Volta Trucks to offer four fully-electric commercial vehicles by 2025

Volta Trucks will launch four fully-electric vehicles as part of its newly-announced Road-to-Zero Emissions strategy.

The commercial vehicle manufacturer aims to build on the success of its Volta Zero fully-electric 16-tonne CV with three additional variants within the medium to lower end of the heavy duty class.

These will be in the 7.5-tonne, 12-tonne and 19-tonne weight categories.

The 16-tonne Volta Zero, which was launched in September and has a range of 95 to 125 miles, will be the first vehicle delivered, with Pilot Fleet trucks built by the end of 2021 with series production starting around 12 months later.

This vehicle will be followed by the 19- and 12-tonne variants in 2023.

A Pilot Fleet of the smaller 7.5-tonne vehicles is expected to be launched for customer trials in the same year, with production commencing in late 2024.

Essa Al-Saleh, chief executive officer of Volta Trucks, said: “We have seen huge success since launching the 16-tonne Volta Zero in September 2020.

“We have significant tail winds with zero emission large commercial vehicles, thanks to forthcoming legislation changes that are driving demand, as well as many customers with uncompromising sustainability agendas wanting to purchase the most environmentally focused vehicles for their fleets.

“This has created a very strong order book that encourages us to rapidly accelerate our plans.”

Al-Saleh said when it launched Volta Zero, it expected to be selling 5,000 models a year with a single model, but given the pace of development driving by customer demand, it identified the opportunity to expand its range.

He added: “This leads us to far more ambitious sales expectations, with more than five times the number of vehicles now expected to be built compared to our original proposal.

“That’ll see over 27,000 vehicles sold per year by 2025, and further volume growth afterwards.”

The largest fleet deal to date has been the agreed sale of 1,000 Volta Zeros to the Petit Forestier Group in France.

All trucks will adopt the low-seat central driving position with a glasshouse-style cab offering 220 degrees of visibility.

Volta Trucks will accelerate its market entry with a Europe-first strategy, followed by US and Asian cities.

Volta Zero was initially launched in the UK and France, and is currently in Spain for a tailored roadshow with customers.

Afterwards, it will be presented in Germany and North America over the summer, with other European markets including Netherlands, Italy, and Belgium to be confirmed by year end.