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ANOTHER NEW ELECTRIC TRUCK BRAND GOES INTO PRODUCTION
New UK truck factories are as rare as hen teeth, but PowerTorque’s European Correspondent, Will Shiers, was pleased to visit one in south east England earlier this year as another new electric truck brand goes into production.
During my lifetime I’ve witnessed countless UK truck factory closures: Bedford, ERF, Foden and Seddon Atkinson to name just a few, but until now, I don’t think I’ve ever written about one that’s opening!
The factory in question is in Tilbury, Essex, about 20 miles to the east of London, and belongs to Tevva.
This may well be the first time you’ve heard of this zero tailpipe emissions truck manufacturer, but the company has been around for almost a decade, and marketing director David Thackray is keen to point out to me that it’s not a start-up.
“Between 2013 and 2020 we were a start-up, but now we’re a scale-up company,” says David, explaining that this phase is capital intensive, so needs to be as short as possible. “It’s ultimately pre profit, and if you don’t punch through this phase in rapid time, you’ll make it more capital intensive than it needs to be. You need to light the rocket and get it into orbit quickly.”
This is exactly what Tevva is doing, with the help of £53m ($95m) of funding it has secured from investors over the last 12 months.
At the heart of its rocket launch plans is the new 11,150 m2 assembly plant, which I visited in February. At the time contractors were busy fitting the 12 assembly stations, readying it for full production in the summer. When it’s up and running, it will be capable of building up to 3,000 trucks per annum.
If Tevva’s ambitious production targets are anything to go by, it will have outgrown the building by the end of next year. With this in mind, the process for sourcing additional facilities is already underway, reflecting Tevva’s ‘build where you sell’ approach, which minimises both cost and carbon footprint.
The first battery-powered 7.5-tonners will stealthily roll off the line in July, and by the middle of 2023 it expects to be producing between 150 and 200 units per month. By then it will be firmly into the transition phase. Of these, an estimated 33 per cent to 50 per cent will go to British customers, with the rest destined for European export markets including Benelux, France, Germany, Italy and Spain. But it is also looking further afield.
This May Tevva will show a batterypowered truck at the Advanced Clean Transportation Expo in Long Beach, California, and at the same time is expected to announce where in the USA it will be setting up a factory. It is currently working with external partners to evaluate the relative merits of several US states. According to its ambitious plans, it will be building trucks Stateside
The first battery-powered 7.5-tonners will stealthily roll off the line in July.
TEVVA MODEL RANGE There are several Tevva models in the pipeline, but first to market will be its 7.5 and 8 tonne battery electric offerings. Based on glider chassis supplied by Iveco, the truck features a 110kW lithium iron phosphate battery, which operates at 380V. Advantages of lithium iron phosphate are that it’s thermally very stable, cost effective, and it’s good for 80 per cent capacity after 2,000 charging cycles. It is however slightly bulkier and heavier than some other chemistries. The truck utilises a new 120kW switched reluctance motor. Developed specifically around commercial vehicle duty cycles, it has no permanent magnets, which means cooling requirements are less complex. It also doesn’t contain any rare earth metals, which helps to keep the cost down. The motor is modular, in this case consisting of two 60kW pieces, generating 150hp. The early prototype pictured here, has a 4.8m wheelbase, air suspension at the rear and parabolic at the front. It is fitted with a pantech body and has a 2.8-tonne payload. Thackray has a pet hate, and that’s when the industry quotes maximum ranges. In his opinion it is far more relevant to talk about worst case scenario. In the case of the 7.5-tonne Tevva, this is between 70 and 80 miles (110-130km), although operators can expect a normal range of between 110 and 130 miles (180-210km). The actual range is of course heavily dependent on a number of factors, including the weather, the driver, terrain, traffic conditions and ancillary loads (in particular refrigeration). Full production of this currently unnamed model starts in July. The next model in Tevva’s timeline will be a hydrogen fuel cell range extender 7.5 tonner, which goes into production in Q1 2023. This will be followed by a fuel cell range extender 12 tonner in Q3 2023, which is joined by a 19-tonne version six months later. Although Tevva only has rigids in its immediate plans, it is also embarking on an articulated truck consortium project with an interested fleet partner.
by the first quarter of 2024, and a year later this is likely to be its biggest single market.
Back in Blighty, the UK government has set some aggressive emissions targets, with a ban on diesel trucks below 26 tonnes GVW set to come into force in 2035 (2040 for over 26 tonnes). However, there’s no pressing regulatory need for operators to make the switch from diesel to zero tailpipe emissions.
In other words, operators have a free pass to buy a fleet of Euro-6 diesel vehicles today, and if they want to swap them in seven years, they can buy another fleet of diesel vehicles. In fact, if they compress the buying cycle by one year, they could also purchase a third round of diesel trucks before the ban comes into force. However Tevva believes plenty of companies will take the moral high ground, and will look to make the move sooner.
But what I want to know is why Tevva believes these operators will come knocking on its door instead of those of the established European truck makers, many of which already have electric offerings.
“Have you seen how much they’re charging?” is his immediate response. “Our 7.5-tonne BEV is £140,000 ($250,000).” To put this figure into perspective, the 16-tonne Renault D ZE which I drove around London’s M25 motorway (PowerTorque September 2021) had a price tag in excess of £350,000 ($626,000).
“The reality is that we only have one purpose, and that is to sell electric vehicles in volume, and not in ones or twos,” he continues.” This world isn’t going to get where it needs to go if companies put one of two halo vehicles on their fleets. Instead we’re talking about [orders of] 10s, 20s, 50s and 100s. We’re talking about selling them for mainstream re-fleeting.”However Tevva is well aware that even the most environmentally conscious companies will only make the switch if it makes some financial sense too, believing that some will be prepared to make small profit sacrifices, but only in the short term. But Tevva has this covered, having spent the last several years working to ensure that it can build an electric vehicle at a price that’s ‘market viable’.
“I’ve taken the view after all the conversations I’ve had with hundreds of operators in the UK and Europe that if you are going to sell in volume, you need the vehicle to achieve cost parity with diesel at about 25,000 miles,” says David. “We all know about the high CapEx, low OpEx equation. But if you can get to a position where your OpEx savings cancel out your CapEx uplift at about 25,000 miles per annum, then you have a vehicle that makes perfectly good sense to the operator and isn’t a financial compromise.
“It becomes a direct like-for-like swap for diesel without any compromises on cost. At the 7.5-tonne level we’re looking at £140,000 ($250,000) to make that happen. At 12 tonnes it’s a bit more, and
David Thackray, Tevva Marketing Director.
GREASE FREE 5TH WHEELS
The truck utilises a new 120kW switched reluctance motor.
at 19 tonnes it’s a bit more again.”
He believes some early Tevva customers might only purchase a handful initially, but having dipped their toes in the water, will then have the confidence to wade in. “They’ll buy in mainstream volume when they discover it’s a zero-emission option without a financial compromise and without a meaningful payload compromise,” says David.
Just how a company that’s buyingin glider chassis cabs from a third party, is able to significantly undercut the old-guard truck makers’ electric offerings, leads me to assume that we will see some significant price drops in the coming years.
Thackray agrees, and acknowledges that Tevva won’t have the market to itself for very long. He fully anticipates that established rivals will be offering battery-powered trucks ‘at a more sensible price’ by 2025.
“That’s another reason why we’re all about pace,” says David. “The sand is in the glass, but that’s fine. In three of four years from now, when someone has 50 of our vehicles and then a competitor says ‘we’ve got one at that price now’, they’ll say ‘that’s nice but there’s no reason to change as we’re happy with what we have.
“Tevva will have built a reputation for great range, great reliability, great driving characteristics and with a great service behind them, in that situation, we expect operators will find no motivation to revert to historical supply arrangements.”
The next model in Tevva’s timeline will be a hydrogen fuel cell range extender 7.5 tonner.
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DEPENDABLE OILS KEEP TRUCKS RUNNING SMOOTHLY
When searching for the best in engine and hydraulic oils for heavy-duty rod transport, the goal is reduced service intervals and improved efficiency and emissions. Luckily, the Mobil Delvac range satisfies both.
After ExxonMobil and Ampol entered a marketing alliance in late 2020, Ampol took the reins on the manufacture and distribution of Mobil* lubricants in 2021, with cornerstone products like Mobil Delvac continuing to improve.
The Delvac* range of diesel engine oils was first developed in 1925, but Ampol technical solutions specialist Abdulla Nasser told PowerTorque that the range and quality of current day Mobil Delvac is worlds away from its origins.
“There is an excellent range of engine oils depending on what a customer’s emissions requirements are,” said Nasser, “but we usually recommend the Mobil Delvac Modern 15W-40 range of engine oils.”
This high-performance product range is the result of Mobil’s recognition that the road transport sector needs the best in efficiency and reliability.
Whether machines are running hot and heavy, or regulations call for strict emissions reductions – or both – Mobil Delvac Modern 15W-40 is a common calling card for the Ampol team.
“The best of the Mobil Delvac Modern 15W-40 range is the Full Protection option, which supports emissions standards and longer service intervals are achieved,” said Nasser.
“This product gives you extended drain intervals, and with our recent transition to Mobil lubricants, we’ll be looking being able to increase drain intervals by another 25 to 50 per cent.”
In a sector like trucking, where time is money, the lengthening of service intervals can be a game-changer for operations of all shapes and sizes.
What makes high performance oils attractive to machinery and equipment operators, besides spacing out the service intervals, is the potential to improve the reliability and efficiency of their equipment.
“If they somehow overextend on their service intervals, they still have enough of a buffer from this range,” Nasser said.
“If they’re supposed to change the oil out at 40,000km and they get around to it at 50,000km, they can still be confident that it won’t have much effect on the performance of the equipment.”
In hydraulic oils, Ampol continues to be a leader in the market with the Mobil range.
One example Nasser highlighted was the DTE 10 Excel Series hydraulic oil, designed to meet the needs of modern, high pressure, industrial and mobile equipment.
“Ampol are looking to show the road transport sector more about DTE 10 Excel because it’s a real stand-out product and we know the true benefit it can have to them,” Nasser said.
“It runs cleaner, and it lasts longer, even in hotter temperatures.
“The beauty of it is that it doesn’t break down through the machine’s pumps which could potentially decrease efficiencies for the machine overall.”
An added benefit of DTE 10 is its longevity over varying temperatures compared to similar oils in the market.
“Usually, hydraulic oils left in the sump too long can form a varnish and it thickens and becomes sticky which can build up and cause wear in various components,” Nasser explained.
“Whereas the DTE10 Excel series oils don’t tend to do that and in fact have been shown in the field to have a cleaning effect as well.”
Ampol customers include household names across the road transport sector, right down to the little operators who require just as much attention to their lubricant needs.
To cater to all kinds, Nasser said a lot of time is put into understanding unique customer requirements.
“The Ampol Technical and Product Solutions team (or TaPS) has a great understanding of Mobil products and how high-performance engine and hydraulic oils can benefit a machine as well as a customer’s operations,” he said.
“We look at the specific applications for the customer and their required service intervals. We ask questions around what efficiency they want and how much uptime they’re targeting.”
And if for any reason the final product doesn’t seem up to scratch, which Nasser admitted would come as a shock, one can be sure that the next generation of Mobil Delvac oils or Mobil hydraulic oils will be another step in the right direction.
“The results of equipment performance and used oil analysis which Ampol and its customers are seeing in the DTE Excel fluids shows that this is most likely the best hydraulic oil in the Australian market today,” Nasser concluded.
Mobil Delvac Full Protection is highly recommended for quarrying applications.
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*MobilTM and Mobil DelvacTM are trademarks of Exxon Mobil Corporation and used under licence by Ampol Australia Petroleum Pty Ltd