The commercial EV market will boom, and Volta wants to ride the wave.
The shift to electric vehicles is gaining momentum with increasing speed. A lot of the positive feelings around EVs are because of the brilliance of vehicles like the Tesla Model 3, a great family car that does it all. More and more people are joining the electric revolution as a result, and one day our streets will be littered with EVs. But the shift to cleaner mobility does not just apply to the private sector, and commercial logistics will need to become greener and more sustainable too. With this in mind, Tesla is working on a semi truck and Mercedes has an all-electric hauler too. Lesser known brands are also joining the party, including a startup called Volta that we were first introduced to last year. Now the small automaker has revealed two more solutions to high-volume haulage.
The first truck we saw in November last year was a 16-tonne semi version of the truck called the Zero, but not all businesses will require such immense capability, so Volta has now revealed 7.5- and 12-tonne variants. Both were designed by Volta’s partner, Astheimer Design in Warwick, UK and bear a close resemblance to the earlier semi while evolving the styling slightly.
Speaking of, Volta has also revealed that the biggest truck is “now undergoing extensive engineering development and testing ahead of customer evaluation” this year. But back to the new trucks. These look very similar, but you can spot the 12-tonne variant by its longer chassis and body and the extra set of rear wheels and tires.
Volta
Volta
Volta proudly boasts that each Zero truck allows the driver a field of view of 220 degrees to provide optimum visibility and minimal blind spots. In addition, the heavy haulers get rearview cameras in place of traditional mirrors to provide the driver with a 360-degree birds-eye view of the surroundings. Naturally, blind spot warning systems have been added as an additional layer of protection, but thanks to the lack of an internal combustion engine, the driver sits much lower and has a better view than they would in a traditional semi. Volta has not announced when any of its products will officially launch or what the range estimates of the new, lighter variants may be, but hopefully, we’ll get more info this year.
