Volta Trucks – Written evidence (BAT0003)

Combined response to Questions 1 and 6.

Question 1To what extent are battery and fuel cell technologies currently contributing to decarbonisation efforts in the UK? What are the prinary applications of battery and fuel cell technologies for decarbonisation, and at what scale have they been deployed?

Question 6In what sectors could battery and fuel cell technologies play a significant role? What are the engineering and commercial challenges associated with using these technologies, or deploying them to a greater extent, in these sectors. What will be the likely balance between battery and hydrogen fuel cell technologies (and other options) be in a fully decarbonised land transport sector, including heavy and light vehicle transportation.

Background on Volta Trucks.

Volta Trucks was created in 2017 by Founder, Carl-Magnus Norden and co-Founder, Kjell Waloen with very clear goals - to decarbonise last-mile logistics and to make city centre environments safer, more pleasant and sustainable places to live and work. With the vast majority of pedestrian and cyclist deaths on city centre streets attributable to large commercial vehicles, where air quality is also at its worst, they saw the opportunity that the migration from internal combustion engines to battery electrification presented, both in terms of the environmental benefits but with a new type of truck designed at the outset for electric, the safety benefits too.

On September 3rd 2020, Volta Trucks launched the new Volta Zero – its first vehicle and the world’s first purpose-built full-electric 16-tonne commercial vehicle designed specifically for inner-city logistics and freight distribution. The Volta Zero is designed to be a significant contributor to the future vision of zero-emission cities all over the world, understanding how large commercial vehicles operate in, and integrate with, city infrastructures of the future.

Volta Trucks has offices in the UK, Sweden, and France, with most of its business operations centred in the UK, with nearly 100 direct and indirect employees. The Volta Truck demonstration vehicle (pictured below) that was used for the launch in September 2020 was built in the UK at Prodrive, near Banbury, as is the first mule prototype vehicle that is currently under construction. We are currently in late-stage negotiations with several suppliers for the manufacturing contract and will shortly be able to announce the location where the series production vehicles will be built from late 2022.

Since launch, Volta Trucks has taken around 1,500 orders for the Volta Zero, with an approximate order value of $260 million. This includes the purchase of 1,000 vehicles by Petit Forestier, Europe’s largest refrigerated vehicle rental fleet, that was believed to be Europe’s largest single order of full-electric large commercial vehicles to date. We have also confirmed that many UK and EU-based logistics companies will trial the Volta Zero, including DPD Group in the

UK, Bring and Posten of Scandinavia and a number of French distribution operators.

Designed for electric – designed for safety.

Safety is at the heart of the Volta Trucks brand and the Volta Zero has been designed from a blank sheet of paper to be the safest commercial vehicle for one simple reason. Transport for London’s own statistics show that 20% of pedestrian fatalities and 78% of cyclist deaths involve an HGV, yet large trucks only account for 4% of road miles. This is clearly unacceptable.

By replacing the large traditional internal combustion engine that has sat centrally at the front of HGVs for generations, with a clean, efficient and compact electric drivetrain, Volta Trucks engineers have been able to completely reimagine the design of a truck for city centre use. This means that a commercial vehicle with an electric powertrain offers decarbonisation and air quality benefits, and safety benefits too.

The driver of a Volta Zero has a wide 220-degrees of direct vision around the vehicle. This panoramic view of the surroundings through a glasshouse-style cab is designed to deliver a Transport for London five-star Direct Vision Standard rating for optimum visibility. Thanks to the removal of the internal combustion engine, the driver of the Volta Zero sits in a central seating position to eliminate blind spots, and far lower than in a conventional truck, with their eye-line at around 1.8 meters. This mirrors the height of pedestrians and other road users nearby for easy visual communication between the driver and others around. The central seating position also aids ingress and egress, with a low step height giving the driver easy access through fast-opening sliding doors, and always stepping onto the pavement rather than into the busy carriageway.

Electric powertrain in detail.

To facilitate the packaging benefits brought by electrification, the Volta Zero uses an innovative eAxle. This compact unit, supplied by Meritor in the USA, combines the electric motor, transmission and rear axle all in one single unit, and is located within the rear axle. The Volta Zero is the first large commercial vehicle in Europe to use this innovative unit.

Our customers tell us that the most important success factor when converting to electric vehicles is range. With the Volta Zero designed specifically for inner-city logistics and freight distribution, the vehicle can been equipped with either a 150kWh or 225kWh battery, supplied by Proterra of California, USA. This gives the Volta Zero an operating range of 90 – 125 miles which is more than enough for a vehicle that spends all of its day in slow moving congested traffic.

For longer range commercial vehicles, used in city-to-city or cross-continent applications, a number of powertrain solutions could be viable, including battery electric or hydrogen fuel cell. However, for the specific purpose of inner-city logistics, with the short distances these vehicles undertake daily, and given the relative maturity and ease-of-installation of the electric charging infrastructure verses the almost non-existent hydrogen infrasructure, Volta Trucks believes

that the battery electric powertrain is the best solution for last-mile and inner city applications.

Sustainability – more than just tailpipe emissions.

As a full-electric vehicle brand, sustainablity is at the core of Volta Trucks. By 2025, Volta Trucks aims to have saved around 1,271,000 tonnes of tailpipe CO2 from the atmosphere, and improved inner-city air quality by emitting no pollutants. But for Volta Trucks, sustainability is much more than just tailpipe emissions, and the company is constantly striving to reduce the overall enviromental impact of its products, supply chain and manufacturing. One example is that the Volta Zero will be the first road vehicle to use a sustainably sourced natural Flax material and biodegradable resin composite in the construction of exterior body panels. The high-tech Flax weave was developed by Volta’s world-leading supplier, Bcomp of Switzerland, in collaboration with the European Space Agency. The composite is a fully natural, extremely lightweight, high-performance material that is almost CO2 neutral over its lifecycle. It also matches the stiffness and weight of carbon fibre but uses 75% less CO2 to produce.

Volta Trucks on the road.

Volta Trucks is currently in the product deveopment phase of the Volta Zero, and will launch a Pilot Fleet of vehicles in late 2021 for customer evaluation in London and Paris. As the first 16-tonne commercial vehicle dedicated to last-mile logistics, this will help fleet operators understand how a large electric commercial vehicle will integrate into their operations, and provide Volta Trucks with valuable feedback on the different use cases. Volta Trucks will start series production of the Volta Zero in late 2022. We will soon update our expected sales volumes from initial projections, but can confirm that we expect to see “tens of thousands” of vehicles operating on city centre streets not long after the start of production.

Improving the uptake, and simplifiying the adoption, of electric commecial vehicles – Truck as a Service.

It’s a fair assumption that the adoption of electric trucks is more complex, and needs wider corproate consideration, than previous internal combustion engine vehicles needed. Previously, the fleet manager would purchase a truck and the infrastructure needed to run that vehicle had been established for years. The adoption of electric commercial vehicles needs wider consideration, with the grid supply and charging infrastructure installation having many stakeholders, as well as the service and maintenance of electric vehicles being very different to that of an internal combustion vehicle.

It is, in fact, significantly cheaper to run an electric vehicle. With its innovative electric powertrain, the Volta Zero has 90% less mechanical parts than an equivalent internal combustion engine vehicle. As a result, Volta Trucks is projecting lower Total Cost of Ownership than an equivalent diesel-powered vehicle, meaning that for a fleet operator, sustainability and profitability can go hand-in-hand as a further incentive towards the migration to electric vehicles.

To support the fleet operator with the electrification migration, Volta Trucks will introduce its innovative Truck as a Service solution. This is set to revolutionise the ownership, financing and servicing of commercial vehicle fleets. Truck as a Service offers fleet managers a frictionless and hassle-free way to electrify their fleet of vehicles, providing a ‘helping hand’ to smaller operators with fewer vehicles who know they need to adopt electric commercial vehicles, but might be daunted by the challenge.

Volta Trucks will provide a one-stop-shop for all aspects of the electrification of a vehicle fleet. Working with world-class UK-based partners, Volta Trucks works to assess and implement the customers grid and charging infrastructure needs to support the ongoing charging of the fleet. Volta Trucks will also manage the servicing, maintenance, training and insurance requirements. It is even planning on supplying a replacement vehicle, maximising the uptime of the vehicles.

Ends

16 March 2021