Volta Trucks sees company growth of over 200%

2022 was a significant year of milestones for Volta Trucks, the leading and disruptive full-electric commercial vehicle manufacturer and services provider, as the company continues its journey towards production of the full-electric Volta Zero vehicles for customers in early 2023.

Volta Trucks saw the headcount of the company grow by over 200% in 2022, to nearly 700 employees. This included key appointments across the business, including Steve Dichter as Chief Strategy Officer; Adam Chassin as Chief Commercial Officer and Karl Viktor Schaller who joined the Volta Trucks Board of Directors.

In November 2022, it announced a successful extension of its Series C funding round, taking the total investment into the company to over €360 million to date. The funding extension validates the company’s continued progress as it accelerates engineering, testing and certification work ahead of the start of production vehicles this year.

Volta Trucks has completed rigorous programmes of hot and cold weather testing of the fullelectric Volta Zero, between plus 39 degrees celsius and minus 30 degrees celsius. Both programmes were designed to ensure that the vehicle will deliver outstanding levels of reliability and durability when series production of customers specification trucks starts. Volta Trucks has also completed an on-road engineering test phase of the full-electric Volta Zero prototype on the roads of Paris and London, with some of Europe’s largest fleet operators. Customers included DB Schenker, Petit Forestier, the UK’s The Crown Estate and Clipper Logistics, international parcel delivery service, DPD and Fraikin, leaders in commercial vehicle fleet services. These cargo-free trials gave engineering teams feedback from over 25 customers on the vehicle’s performance, world-first driver-centric cab and innovative safety features.

Evaluations

Throughout 2022, Volta Trucks undertook the first customer and media evaluation events of the Volta Zero Design Verification prototype in the company’s

European launch markets. The evaluations, undertaken on proving grounds in Paris, Madrid, Milan, Selm in Germany and Millbrook, England, saw over 1,500 test drives completed by customers and international media. The Volta Zero was also presented at IAA Hannover, Europe’s largest trade show for the commercial vehicle industry in September, as well as other events including Fully Charged Live, ITT Hub and the Commercial Vehicle Show. Meanwhile, Volta Trucks has confirmed details of its first ‘Volta Trucks Hubs’ in Paris and London, serving the service and maintenance needs of the Volta Zero vehicles that will operate on the streets in those cities from early 2023. The network of Hubs, with more to follow in 2023, will be a critical enabler of the company’s innovative Truck as a Service offer, that will revolutionise the ownership, financing and maintenance of commercial vehicle fleets.

Volta Trucks has also confirmed that the first Volta Zero vehicle has been completed at the company’s contract manufacturing facility in Steyr, Austria. The landmark vehicle, the first of a series of secondgeneration ‘Production Verification’ prototypes, will form part of a Pilot Fleet of trucks which will be loaned to customers for extended periods in early 2023.This will allow fleet operators to understand how the full-electric medium duty truck will integrate into their operations.

Partnerships

The company has also announced key strategic partnerships with industry leaders, to deliver best-in-class solutions. These partnerships included Siemens Smart Infrastructure, the leader in electrification, to deliver comprehensive charging infrastructure and software to Volta Trucks customers; Carrier Transicold as the sole supplier of refrigerated equipment for the full-electric 16-tonne Volta Zero; Paneltex as the supplier of ambient cargo boxes, and Cake electric motorcycles to test an electric mobile micro hub for last mile delivery.