The Anglo-Swedish EV startup Volta Trucks has reportedly declared that it has completed the first round of testing for the all-electric Volta Zero in Europe with the European land transport leader DB Schenker, according to InsideEvs.
It is worth noting that it was the first time in Paris, France, to have a Volta Zero design verification prototype tested on highways and in real distribution settings, marking a historic milestone for Volta truck and its partnership with DB Schenker.
“Since the beginning of the cooperation between DB Schenker and Volta Trucks, we have been in close contact and continued to drive the development of the vehicle forward together. It was great to see the result live on the streets of Paris. It all started with an idea – now it’s a reality and we look forward to adding the first pilot vehicles to the fleet in Europe at the beginning of 2023,” Cyrille Bonjean, Executive Vice President Land Transport at DB Schenker in Europe, stated. |
DB Schenker has pre-ordered over 1,500 full-electric Volta Zero vehicles for 2021, making it Volta Trucks’ largest fleet customer to date. Remarkably, it still is Europe’s largest order for medium-duty electric trucks at the moment.
“When we announced Europe’s largest order of full-electric trucks with DB Schenker, we also entered into a partnership to work together to decarbonise urban logistics. The first use of a full-electric Volta Zero in a real-world testing environment is a significant proof point of the depth of the collaboration. To see Volta Zero vehicles operating on the streets in Paris is exciting and is a great forerunner to us delivering significant volumes of customer trucks at scale in the near future,” Essa Al-Saleh, Chief Executive Officer of Volta Trucks, added. |
The 16-tonne Volta Zero will be used at DB Schenker’s European terminals to deliver commodities from distribution hubs to city centers and urban regions.
On the other hand, the EV startup claims that because of Volta Zero’s revolutionary design, safety-oriented cab, and zero-tailpipe emission powertrain, it was able to excel in the trucking area.
DB Schenker’s deployment of 1,470 Volta Zero vehicles will commence in 10 locations across five countries. According to the partnership, they will explore new uses of the technology to extend the service.
Notably, the Volta Zero ranges 150-200 kilometers (95-125 miles) as an electric vehicle. It is expected to save an estimated 1.2 million tonnes of CO2 by 2025 due to its zero tailpipe emissions.
Volta Trucks reports having over 6,500 pre-orders, including 1,470 for DB Schenker and 1,000 for Petit Forestier. Remarkably, it is valued at €1.4 billion ($1.34 billion) in total.