DB Schenker orders hundreds of electric Volta trucks ahead of trials

DB Schenker has placed what is believed to be the largest pre-order for electric trucks in Europe to date.

The logistics company has pre-ordered 1,470 Volta Zero vehicles, ahead of putting a prototype of the electric truck through its paces in the spring and summer of next year.

Cyrille Bonjean, executive vice president land transport at DB Schenker in Europe, said: “We have many challenges to overcome on the road to carbon neutrality.

“The large-scale partnership with Volta Trucks allows us to significantly increase the pace of electrification of our fleet and invest in greener transport solutions, brings us closer again to our goal of carbon neutral logistics.”

The findings from the trials will be incorporated into the serial production of the vehicles being built at Volta Trucks’ new factory in Steyr, Austria.

Essa Al-Saleh, chief executive officer of Volta Trucks, said: “Working with DB Schenker on Europe’s largest full-electric truck order demonstrates the confidence that major freight distributors have in our ability to deliver a world-class zero-emission vehicle on time and to the highest possible quality.”

The Volta Zero is a purpose-built fully-electric 16-tonne truck designed specifically for inner-city logistics, with a pure-electric range of 150 to 200 km (95–125 miles),

The electric 16-tonne Volta Zero will be used in DB Schenker’s European terminals to transport goods from distribution hubs to the city centres and urban areas. It said the rollout would begin at 10 locations in five countries but gave no further details.

DB Schenker is one of the world’s leading logistics providers, with around 74,200 employees at more than 2,100 locations in over 130 countries.

The partnership will also jointly develop specifications for the previously announced 12-tonne Volta Zero variant, conducting site testing to accelerate vehicle deployment of vehicles, and train drivers.