It is a 16-tonne truck designed for urban deliveries
Prototypes will be tested next year and regular production should start at the end of 2022
This truck will arrive before the Tesla Semi, but they won’t compete directly
Among the frenzy for electric cars, the interest over electric semi trucks is also growing. Tesla has long promised an electric semi and Geely recently unveiled its own take on the electric heavy hauler, but a new model could beat them both to market.
Volta is a Swedish start up company that aims to begin sales of its Zero electric 16-tonne truck by the end of 2022.
The company unveiled a prototype last September and it is currently building the first road going prototype in the United Kingdom, which it will use to fine tune the design of the final product.
Following these tests, a fleet of 25 pre-production units will undergo intense real-world testing to ensure a proper operation in freezing cold or boiling hot weather and in other various harsh conditions the trucks are likely to face over their lifetime.
The Volta Zero will feature a cabin which allows the driver, seated in the center, to have a 220-degree visibility and minimal blind-spots.
Few details are known about the mechanical elements of the truck as of now, but its range should be around the 95 to 125 miles (153 to 201 kilometers) mark, putting it close to the Mini Cooper SE.
Since Tesla announced a range of over 500 miles (805 kilometers) for its Semi, the two vehicles will not compete directly with each other, since the Tesla is aimed at long-haul freight transport while the Volta Zero is aimed at intra-urban heavy deliveries.
Nevertheless, this truck could take sales away from Tesla by targeting companies that mostly deliver between a local warehouse and various stores.
Both truck categories could also complement themselves, with longer range trucks, such as the Tesla and the Geely, ferrying trailers between cities and shorter-range trucks, such as the Volta Zero bringing them into the city and to their final destination, which would allow long-haul trucks to make more deliveries in the same timeframe.
