Volta Trucks, the leading and disruptive full-electric commercial vehicle manufacturer and services provider, has announced the first implementation of its new full-electric Volta Zero with Truck as a Service charging infrastructure to Heppner, creator of transport and logistics solutions and an independent leader in international transport from and to France.
The pre-order with deposit from Heppner will see 16 full-electric Volta Zeros operate from the company’s depots in Rungis and La Courneuve in Paris, and Lyon. Importantly, the agreement also covers the implementation of the electric charging infrastructure to run the vehicles, with a range of 22kW slow and 150kW fast chargers to be installed by Volta Trucks’ recently announced charging infrastructure partner, Siemens. The strategic partnership with Siemens includes software control systems, facility electrification, charging stations operation, energy management, building equipment and project finance.
The agreement with Heppner recognises that the successful implementation of an electric commercial vehicle fleet doesn’t solely rely on a world-class, innovative truck, but all the support services that surround the vehicle. Volta Trucks expert teams have worked with Heppner to ensure that the timelines for the delivery of the vehicle, charging infrastructure and all other Truck as a Service components coincide to maximise fleet performance from day one of operations.
Volta Trucks and Heppner have worked closely together to identify charging requirements through a sequence of site assessments. Critical to deploying an effective charging solution, each assessment identified a sites existing infrastructure and upgrades required to recharge a fleet of Volta Zero’s.
Truck as a Service is designed to de-risk and accelerate the migration to electric commercial vehicles for fleet managers. Through its Truck as a Service offer, Heppner will have access to the maintenance, servicing, insurance and training services of its vehicles, and will rely on Volta Trucks for the development and successful implementation of all aspects of the migration to electrification.
The Heppner Group is developing its urban distribution offering by introducing both the full-electric Volta Zero trucks into its fleet of vehicles. The vehicles are part of Heppner’s strategic decarbonization plan, integrating electric power into its energy mix. This agreement will enable Heppner to offer its drivers both 16 tonne and 18 tonne full-electric trucks suitable for last-mile delivery.
The Volta Zero is the first purpose-built full-electric medium duty commercial vehicle designed specifically for urban logistics. With 150-225 kWh of battery power, located between the chassis rails as the safest possible location, the Volta Zero will deliver a range of 150-200 km, which is more than sufficient for distribution in city centres.
As a vehicle that’s specifically designed for urban use, safety is also very important. The driver of a Volta Zero sits in a lowered central seating position, with 220 degrees of direct vision of other vulnerable road users. The driver is also supported by 360-degrees of birds-eye camera visibility. From the central seat, the driver can also enter and exit onto the pavement from either side of the vehicle through sliding doors, making it safer for the operator and passing cyclists and pedestrians.
“At Heppner, our approach to reducing our carbon footprint is global and we act wherever possible. I am proud to be able to lay a new brick in our energy transition with Volta Trucks, which is a key pillar of our strategy. This first successful trial is the start of a great collaboration in which innovation and agility have their place”,
says Jean-Thomas Schmitt, Chief Executive Officer of the Heppner Group.
Essa Al-Saleh, Chief Executive Officer of Volta Trucks, added;
“I’m delighted to welcome Heppner to Volta Trucks. Both teams have worked towards a shared vision – to implement the full-electric Volta Zero onto Heppner’s fleet but also recognising that the migration to zero tailpipe emissions needs more than a truck, it needs the complete electrification ecosystem around the truck, to be successful. Our unique Truck as a Service proposition supports customers like Heppner operate an efficient and cost-effective full-electric fleet of trucks from day one. I’m sure this will provide a template and case study that others will follow.”
ENDS
Editor’s notes
About the Volta Zero
The Volta Zero is the world’s first purpose-built full-electric 16-tonne vehicle designed for urban logistics, reducing the environmental impact of freight deliveries in city centres. Designed from the ground up with an operating pure-electric range of 150 – 200 kms (95 – 125 miles), the Volta Zero will eliminate an estimated 1.9M tonnes of CO2 by 2026.
Safety is also at the heart of Volta Trucks, with its ambition of producing the safest trucks for our cities. The Volta Zero was designed for electric from the outset, which facilitates a step-change in vehicle, driver and pedestrian safety. Thanks to the removal of the internal combustion engine, the operator of a Volta Zero sits in a central driving position, with a much lower seat height than a conventional truck. This combination, plus a glass house-style cab design, gives the driver a wide 220-degrees of visibility, minimising dangerous blind spots.
Volta Trucks will also introduce its innovative Truck as a Service proposition that will revolutionise the financing and servicing of commercial vehicle fleets. Truck as a Service offers fleet managers a frictionless and hassle-free way to electrify their fleet and helps them with every step by offering a single, affordable, monthly fee that provides access to a full-electric Volta Zero, and all its charging infrastructure, servicing, maintenance, insurance, and training requirements, maximising uptime and operational efficiency.
About Volta Trucks
Volta Trucks was formed in 2019 in Sweden by co-founders Carl-Magnus Norden and Kjell Walöen. It has its head office in Stockholm, Sweden, but most of its business and engineering operations are undertaken in the UK, with sales teams across France, Spain, Italy, Germany, Netherlands, and the UK. Volta Trucks is partnering with a number of global leaders in the supply chain for the development and production of the Volta Zero, at pace and scale.
The company’s contract manufacturing facility is in Steyr, Austria, where it started building ‘Production Verification’ prototypes in Summer 2022, ahead of the start of production of customer specification vehicles in early 2023. The company is also establishing a network of ‘Volta Trucks Hub’ service and maintenance facilities in its launch markets, with the first two already announced in Bonneuil-sur-Marne, to the south of Paris, and in Tottenham, London.
Volta Trucks’ original seed funding in May 2019 was €4.5 million. It then raised €18 million in a Series A round in January 2021 and the Series B round delivered €42 million in September 2021. The company announced a successful Series C round of €240 million in February 2022 with an additional €60 million in a Series C extension round in November 2022. In total, Volta Trucks has raised nearly €360 million to date.
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Duncan Forrester
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