Volta Trucks rolls first production pilot EV off the line

The first electric truck has rolled off the line at electric commercial vehicle manufacturer Volta Trucks in Steyr, Austria.

The landmark Volta Zero vehicle, the first of a series of second-generation prototypes, will form part of a pilot fleet of trucks. These will be loaned to customers for extended periods in late 2022 and early 2023 to allow fleet operators to understand how the purpose-built full-electric medium duty commercial vehicle will integrate into their operations.

The Volta Zero is full-electric 16-tonne vehicle designed for urban logistics, reducing the environmental impact of freight deliveries in city centres. Designed from the ground up with an operating pure-electric range of 150 to 200 km, the Volta Zero will eliminate an estimated 1.2M tonnes of CO₂ by 2025.

In November 2021, Volta Trucks announced Europe’s largest purchase of full-electric trucks with DB Schenker’s order of 1,470 vehicles. This followed Petit Forestier’s order of 1,000 Volta Zeros. Volta Trucks now has a total order bank of around 6,500 vehicles, with an order bank value of circa €1.4 billion.

The start of series production of customer specification vehicles is on track to start in early 2023.

The Volta Trucks contract manufacturing facility is run by Steyr Automotive, formerly MAN Truck and Bus Austria. Steyr Automotive was appointed in August 2021 based on their long experience of commercial vehicle manufacturing, existing infrastructure, and consequent speed to market. Steyr Automotive offers Volta Trucks more than 100 years of manufacturing experience building large commercial vehicles.

Steyr Automotive has reserved a capacity of 14,000 vehicles per year for Volta Trucks from their total available production. Over time, manufacturing the Volta Zero will create 510 jobs, plus 180 jobs in the building of the cargo boxes, in addition to an estimated 2,000 positions within the supply chain. The manufacturing contract has a value of up to €1 billion over its lifetime.

“This first vehicle rolling off the line at our manufacturing plant in Steyr is the latest significant milestone on the Volta Trucks journey towards the start of production of customers’ vehicles,” said Steyr, co-founder and chief manufacturing and logistics officer of Volta Trucks, Kjell Walöen.

“To have achieved this significant landmark in just 12 months is a testament to the pace that we are working at to deliver the safest and most sustainable trucks to urban streets, and the excellent collaboration we have with our partners at Steyr Automotive. Their team has used generations of premium truck-building experience to deliver the first Volta Zero off the production line on time, and to the highest quality standards.”

Volta Trucks’ Head Office is in Stockholm, Sweden, with its engineering led from the UK, and forthcoming manufacturing facility in Steyr, Austria. The company also has sales teams across France, Spain, Italy, Germany, Netherlands, and the UK.