Click to Enlarge.
In the world of capital markets and press release EVs, Volta Trucks’ 100% battery electric commercial vehicles are coming to North America it says. leading the way in 2023 will be a Volta Zero Class 7 truck, the startup claims. This is roughly equivalent to the existing European 16-ton truck, with a dry or refrigerated cargo box.
The Volta Zero is a purpose-built 100% battery-electric medium duty truck specifically designed for urban logistics. The Volta Zero uses an innovative compact eAxle, comprising the electric motor, transmission, and axle all in one unit, supplied by Michigan-based Meritor, and high-voltage batteries located within the chassis rails from California-based Proterra.
Volta Trucks will initially introduce a Pilot Fleet of 100 Class 7 trucks in mid-2023 that will be evaluated by US customers, starting in Los Angeles in mid-2023, with additional cities to follow, ahead of a promised roll out of production vehicles in 2024.
However, thus far Volta Trucks has built only 24 road-going ‘Design Verification’ prototypes which are currently undergoing testing in Europe. Ahead of the introduction in North America, the company expects to have already built more than 1,500 full-electric Class 7 trucks for European customers.
As a vehicle specifically designed for urban logistics, the Class 7 Volta Zero will offer a modular battery configuration to deliver a range of 95 – 125. The vehicle is designed for both AC and DC 250 kW fast charging, which delivers a full charge from empty in just over an hour. Alternatively, one hour of 19 kW AC standard charging will add around 12 miles of driving range.
The first Class 7 vehicles delivered to the US will be built at the company’s existing contract manufacturing facility in Steyr, Austria. All Class 5 and 6 vehicles for North America are expected to be built in the US starting in 2024/25.
“While commercial vehicles compose a small portion of city traffic, they have historically been involved in a disproportionate number of accidents with vulnerable road users. Without the traditional internal combustion engine, Volta Trucks, alongside Astheimer Design, reconfigured the entire driving experience to centrally mount the driver’s seat, and lowered it, in order to meet pedestrians and cyclists at eye level. The Volta Zero’s glasshouse-style cab offers a 220-degree view around the vehicle, for optimum visual awareness and blind-spot reduction,” the company said.
AutoInformed on
About Ken Zino
Ken Zino, publisher (kzhw@aol.com), is a versatile auto industry participant with global experience spanning decades in print and broadcast journalism, as well as social media. He has automobile testing, marketing, public relations and communications experience. He is past president of The International Motor Press Assn, the Detroit Press Club, founding member and first President of the Automotive Press Assn. He is a member of APA, IMPA and the Midwest Automotive Press Assn.
Zino is at home on test tracks, knows his way around U.S. Congressional hearing rooms, auto company headquarters, plant floors, as well as industry research and development labs where the real mobility work is done. He can quote from court decisions, refer to instrumented road tests, analyze financial results, and profile executive personalities and corporate cultures.
He also brings an historical perspective while citing their contemporary relevance of the work of legendary auto writers such as Ken Purdy, Jim Dunne or Jerry Flint, or writers such as Red Smith, Mark Twain, Thomas Jefferson – all to bring perspective to a chaotic automotive universe.
Above all, decades after he first drove a car, Zino still revels in the sound of the exhaust as the throttle is blipped and the driver’s rush that occurs when the entry, apex and exit points of a turn are smoothly and swiftly crossed. It’s the beginning of a perfect lap.
AutoInformed has an editorial philosophy that loves transportation machines of all kinds while promoting critical thinking about the future use of cars and trucks.
Zino builds AutoInformed from his background in automotive journalism starting at Hearst Publishing in New York City on Motor and MotorTech Magazines and car testing where he reviewed hundreds of vehicles in his decade-long stint as the Detroit Bureau Chief of Road & Track magazine. Zino has also worked in Europe, and Asia – now the largest automotive market in the world with China at its center.
Volta Trucks Says it Has a US Market Strategy
Click to Enlarge.
In the world of capital markets and press release EVs, Volta Trucks’ 100% battery electric commercial vehicles are coming to North America it says. leading the way in 2023 will be a Volta Zero Class 7 truck, the startup claims. This is roughly equivalent to the existing European 16-ton truck, with a dry or refrigerated cargo box.
The Volta Zero is a purpose-built 100% battery-electric medium duty truck specifically designed for urban logistics. The Volta Zero uses an innovative compact eAxle, comprising the electric motor, transmission, and axle all in one unit, supplied by Michigan-based Meritor, and high-voltage batteries located within the chassis rails from California-based Proterra.
Volta Trucks will initially introduce a Pilot Fleet of 100 Class 7 trucks in mid-2023 that will be evaluated by US customers, starting in Los Angeles in mid-2023, with additional cities to follow, ahead of a promised roll out of production vehicles in 2024.
However, thus far Volta Trucks has built only 24 road-going ‘Design Verification’ prototypes which are currently undergoing testing in Europe. Ahead of the introduction in North America, the company expects to have already built more than 1,500 full-electric Class 7 trucks for European customers.
As a vehicle specifically designed for urban logistics, the Class 7 Volta Zero will offer a modular battery configuration to deliver a range of 95 – 125. The vehicle is designed for both AC and DC 250 kW fast charging, which delivers a full charge from empty in just over an hour. Alternatively, one hour of 19 kW AC standard charging will add around 12 miles of driving range.
The first Class 7 vehicles delivered to the US will be built at the company’s existing contract manufacturing facility in Steyr, Austria. All Class 5 and 6 vehicles for North America are expected to be built in the US starting in 2024/25.
“While commercial vehicles compose a small portion of city traffic, they have historically been involved in a disproportionate number of accidents with vulnerable road users. Without the traditional internal combustion engine, Volta Trucks, alongside Astheimer Design, reconfigured the entire driving experience to centrally mount the driver’s seat, and lowered it, in order to meet pedestrians and cyclists at eye level. The Volta Zero’s glasshouse-style cab offers a 220-degree view around the vehicle, for optimum visual awareness and blind-spot reduction,” the company said.
AutoInformed on
About Ken Zino
Ken Zino, publisher (kzhw@aol.com), is a versatile auto industry participant with global experience spanning decades in print and broadcast journalism, as well as social media. He has automobile testing, marketing, public relations and communications experience. He is past president of The International Motor Press Assn, the Detroit Press Club, founding member and first President of the Automotive Press Assn. He is a member of APA, IMPA and the Midwest Automotive Press Assn. Zino is at home on test tracks, knows his way around U.S. Congressional hearing rooms, auto company headquarters, plant floors, as well as industry research and development labs where the real mobility work is done. He can quote from court decisions, refer to instrumented road tests, analyze financial results, and profile executive personalities and corporate cultures. He also brings an historical perspective while citing their contemporary relevance of the work of legendary auto writers such as Ken Purdy, Jim Dunne or Jerry Flint, or writers such as Red Smith, Mark Twain, Thomas Jefferson – all to bring perspective to a chaotic automotive universe. Above all, decades after he first drove a car, Zino still revels in the sound of the exhaust as the throttle is blipped and the driver’s rush that occurs when the entry, apex and exit points of a turn are smoothly and swiftly crossed. It’s the beginning of a perfect lap. AutoInformed has an editorial philosophy that loves transportation machines of all kinds while promoting critical thinking about the future use of cars and trucks. Zino builds AutoInformed from his background in automotive journalism starting at Hearst Publishing in New York City on Motor and MotorTech Magazines and car testing where he reviewed hundreds of vehicles in his decade-long stint as the Detroit Bureau Chief of Road & Track magazine. Zino has also worked in Europe, and Asia – now the largest automotive market in the world with China at its center.