Volta Trucks launches 'world first' full-electric 16-tonne commercial vehicle

Fri 04 September 2020 View all news

Volta Trucks has launched a new purpose-built fully electric 16-tonne commercial vehicle. The company says that it is targeting the same total cost of ownership as a conventional diesel vehicle while offering added benefits. Trials are to begin in the first half of 2021 with the start of production scheduled for 2022.
 
Volta says that the vehicle has been optimised for the safety of vulnerable road users, including 220-degrees of visibility and is designed to deliver a Transport for London five-star Direct Vision Standard rating.
 
It uses the world’s first use of flax and biodegradable resin composite in exterior body panels, developed by Bcomp in conjunction with the European Space Agency, that is almost entirely carbon neutral.
 
The vehicle is designed specifically for inner-city parcel and freight distribution. The first Volta Zero pilot fleet vehicles will start undertaking operator trials with some of Europe’s largest parcel delivery and logistics companies in 2021. The company says that orders have already been taken from companies wanting to secure the first customer-specification vehicles, which are due to be delivered when production starts in 2022.
 
Rob Fowler, Chief Executive Officer of Volta Trucks, said: “Commercial vehicles form the lifeblood of commerce and livelihoods in cities, but today’s large trucks dangerously impose themselves on our streets and dominate their surroundings.
 
"With the launch of the Volta Zero, we are changing the face of road transport. Volta Trucks is redefining the perception of the large commercial vehicle, and how it operates in and integrates with, the zero-emission towns and cities of the future.
 
Volta says that the Zero has been designed from a blank sheet of paper to be the safest commercial vehicle; the removal of the traditional internal combustion engine enabled the designers and engineers of the Volta Zero to completely rethink how a truck has always been designed.
 
It will offer a pure-electric range of 150 - 200 kms (95 – 125 miles). Volta says that this should be more than sufficient for the daily use of a ‘last-mile’ delivery vehicle and has been validated using simulations with a full payload.
 
The vehicle will use 160 - 200 kWh of battery power, using Lithium Iron Phosphate batteries instead of a Nickel Cobalt Manganese set up used in most passenger cars. The Lithium Iron Phosphate battery will be highly modular, enabling Volta Trucks to adapt the vehicle to an operator’s specific requirements.
 
The Volta Zero offers a payload of 8,600kgs, with an overall volume of 37.7m3 and is designed to accommodate 16 Euro pallets. 

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