Volta Trucks, a Swedish full-electric commercial vehicle manufacturer and services provider, has revealed further products in its full-electric lorry range.
The new models are the second product family in Volta Trucks’ full-electric Zero range. Its larger 16-tonne vehicle is undergoing extensive engineering development and testing ahead of customer evaluation during 2022.
Essa Al-Saleh, Chief Executive Officer of Volta Trucks, said: “The forthcoming 7.5- and 12-tonne models complete the full-electric Volta Zero product family.”
“They’ll sit alongside our 16-tonne vehicle, that’s currently engaged in extensive testing ahead of the first customer use later this year, and the 18-tonne vehicle that will start production in mid-2023,” Mr Al-Saleh said.
“Our customers tell us that they really appreciate the safety and zero-emission attributes of the 16-tonne Volta Zero, but also need smaller 7.5- and 12-tonne vehicles in their operations. Our engineering teams are now scaling rapidly to be able to deliver all four vehicles at pace, as our customers ask of us,” he added.
The Swedish start-up’s Volta Zero is the world’s first purpose-built 16-tonne vehicle designed for urban logistics, reducing the environmental impact of freight deliveries in city centres. With an operating pure-electric range of 150-200kms (or 95-125 miles), it will eliminate an estimated 1.2M tonnes of CO2 by 2025.
Volta Zero vehicles are designed to be both environmentally friendly and safe for road users.
Without the traditional internal combustion engine, the Volta Zero vehicles optimise driver safety. The driver of a Volta Zero has a wide 220-degrees of direct vision around the vehicle, thereby providing them optimum visibility, and reducing blind spots. The 360-degree birds- eye rear-view cameras further protect vulnerable road users, as they show the driver their complete surroundings. Blind-spot warning systems in the vehicles also detect objects down the sides of it.
In the absence of an internal combustion engine, the driver sits lower than in a conventional truck, with an eye-line of approximately 1.8 metres, thus mirroring the height of pedestrians and other road users nearby, for easy visual communication. This also means that the driver can enter and exit the vehicle on either side, always onto the pavement, and by sliding doors open, to ensure the safety of passing passengers.
Carrying these design features forward, the 7.5- and 12-tonne vehicles add to the Volta-Zero vehicle range with a change in driver experience and workspace. They have near-silent operations and minimise cognitive overload.
Their relatively compact sizes offer practical advantages, which are exclusive to these new models. The smaller dimensions mean they can be driven through tight, narrow streets. The size of the 7.5-tonne model also benefits users as a truck ban on Sunday and bank holidays in some EU markets does not apply to it.
The addition of the two latest models, which were designed by Volta Trucks’s partner, Astheimer Design in Warwick in the UK, will significantly contribute to the company’s objective to sell more than 27, 000 units per year by 2025. The company will increase this target in the years beyond.
A Pilot Fleet of vehicles of these Volta Zero variants is expected to launch for customer trials in 2024, following the project’s confirmation in December last year.
Series production of the fleet is due to begin in early 2025.
Last November, Volta Trucks announced Europe’s largest purchase of full-electric trucks. It has a total order book of around 6,000 vehicles, with an order bank value of approximately €1.3 billion.
Volta Trucks is partnering with global leaders in the supply chain to develop and produce the Volta Zero.