British electric truckmaker Tevva Motors has announced a landmark agreement with Hitachi Capital Vehicle Solutions, which “will open the way for fleets to move from fossils fuels to electric”, according to Tevva commercial director David Thackray.

It will also “provide the bedrock” for his company’s ambitious Air Quality Champions programme.

The deal, which Tevva finalised in late 2018, will, “enable fleet operators seeking a move to e-Trucks to replicate the leasing options they have long enjoyed with diesel vehicles”. 

This, said Thackray “represents an important step change for leasing companies”, many of whom have been “previously unwilling to provide attractive finance deals to customers due to uncertainty around RVs”.

Thackray, who helped broker the partnership, said: “We believe this could prove as evolutionary as it is revolutionary. It means that whenever a customer orders a 7.5-14 tonne vehicle, we can offer them Hitachi Capital Vehicle Solutions leasing terms. Under the deal, Hitachi Capital Vehicle Solutions then provides the vehicle to our customer in return for a monthly rental, which fully overs the cost of maintenance and repair. This, essentially, means customers don’t need to worry about CapEx and have the benefit of fully fixed ongoing operating costs.”

But Thackray said there is a second and a third strand to the agreement, which, he believes, “could boost global production in the coming months”.

The deal, he added, helps “lay the foundations for Tevva Motors’ Air Quality Champions initiative”, a £1 million project aiming to promote electric vehicle take-up in large companies.

The programme begins in the UK later this year and will be rolled out across Europe subsequently. It will feature fleets from a range of different sectors. Each company will be given the option to buy a truck (or a fleet of trucks) after a trial period ranging from three-to-six months.

Thackray said: “We’re close to finalising the initial eight UK participants, which include a host of multinational companies from the food logistics, transportation, security and manufacturing sectors.

“The programme will be introduced in Europe in 2020 with Germany, the Netherlands, France, Spain, Italy, Belgium and the Nordics being probable locations. We think that deploying the Air Quality Champions fleet trucks in a number of nations in a number of different disciplines – allowing fleet operators to trial the trucks over a long period – is the best way to show them the financial model is sound and that our trucks are better than their ICE-powered counterparts.”

Finally, Thackray was keen to emphasise the benefits that the collaboration with Hitachi Capital Vehicle Solutions will bring.

He added: “As our finance partner, Hitachi Capital Vehicle Solutions has been involved in commercial vehicle leasing for more than 30 years and has a huge customer base. When large customers with big fleets are nearing the end of their finance deals, Hitachi Capital Vehicle Solutions has already promoted our trucks to its clients.”

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