At Volta Trucks, a driver-centric approach to comfort and safety is at the heart of our design philosophy, enhancing the premium experience and working environment for drivers. Volta Trucks’ physical Ergonomic Design Model has been created to refine the driver experience through minute design refinements that create a comfortable and well-positioned cab set up, prioritising safety in all operations.
Whilst Virtual Reality-type solutions offer flexible and detailed approaches to vehicle design, the Volta Zero’s physical Ergonomic Design Model provides an effective tool to collate real-world and substantial feedback on the design based on a full-scale representation of the principal elements. The use of flexible and adjustable components allows for an experimental approach, whereby key spatial elements of the cab can be manipulated to suit design preferences. This includes a clear understanding of the driving experience while sitting in the innovative central seating position. Engineers, customers, and drivers can experience the true feeling of the Volta Zero cab, providing quick and early-stage decisions on the overall design, resulting in increased design efficiencies.
The Volta Zero’s cab has been designed with the driver’s comfort and safety at the core. The removal of the internal combustion engine allows the driver to sit far lower than in a conventional truck, with their eye-line at around 1.8 meters, mirroring the eye height of pedestrians and other road users in close-proximity to the truck, for easy visual communication. The central seating position offers a 220-degree range of visibility which eliminates blind spots and maximises direct visibility of pedestrians and other vulnerable road-users. Sliding doors and a low step on both sides of the cab provide smooth ingress and egress for the driver who will be frequently entering and exiting, ensuring that they never have to step directly onto the busy carriageway.
The premium, open and minimalist cab environment offers a contemporary uncluttered dashboard and driver information interface, bringing an environment more akin to a premium car than today’s perception of a traditional commercial vehicle. The central display conveys critical information while the intuitive and well-positioned touch screens on each side are used for lights, climate control, navigation, communication, and in-cab media. The simple-to-use environment reduces cognitive overload, and thus fatigue and stress, enabling the driver to focus on the safe operation of the vehicle.
Creating this driver-centric approach allows Volta Trucks to put driver and pedestrian safety at the forefront when designing the truck from the ground-up. This also creates a premium working environment for the driver, which will also encourage their recruitment and retention for fleet operators – a significant challenge in today’s economic times.