Volta Trucks started building its first Zero prototypes in the UK. From its Coventry base, the Swedish company has produced 25 prototypes and expects to have all of them ready for testing by January 2022.
Described as the world’s first purpose-built 16-tonne EV truck designed specifically for inner-city logistics, the Volta Zero has an estimated range of 95-125 miles (153-201 km). It might not be enough for long urban trips, although it is useful for transporting goods from New York City to Los Angeles. Volta plans to reduce its CO2 emissions by replacing diesel trucks with electric vehicles by 2025.
The 25 “Design Verification” (DV) prototypes are just that. They won’t be available for sale, but will be used to test the Zero in the kind of regular delivery situations it’s likely to encounter, as well as pitting it against the freezing temperatures of the Arctic and scorching heat of countries located close to the equator.
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They’ll also be comprehensibly trashed in crash tests before the project can move on to the next stage, which is “Production Verification”. Unlike the Brit-built DVs, the PV Zeros will be assembled at Volta’s new plant in Steyr, Austria, in mid-2022. To test the prototypes in production, real customers will be able to borrow them.
Volta hasn’t given away much in the way of technical details for the Zero, but judged on design alone, it’s clearly very different to existing diesel trucks. Getting rid of the huge combustion engine and transmission has allowed Volta’s designers to locate the driver centrally in the cab, and much lower down, while a large glass area promises 220-degree visibility.
