Volta Preparing For U.S. Debut Of All-Electric Zero Commercial Truck, Will Unveil It May 1st At ACT Expo



When Volta Trucks first embarked on its plan to shake up the commercial EV trucking segment, it focused on Europe first but did confirm that the U.S. market was also on its radar too. After several years of testing (including recently announced plans to start testing in select U.S. cities), the company has revealed that it’s now prepared to not only debut the Volta Zero here in the U.S. but also display it for the first time with the company debuting the rig at the Advanced Clean Technology Expo (ACT) In May.

 

ACT Will Be Big Launching Pad For The Company

The company’s presence at ACT will be a key milestone for the company, with the expo showcasing the latest in state-of-the-art clean technology while also looking showcasing alternative fueled commercial vehicles and some of the firms that produce them. Volta will be bringing a design-verification prototype of its Class 7 truck to the event. The Class 7’s appearance also signifies Volta’s U.S. plans with the model and its smaller Class 6 cousin leading the charge into the U.S market in 2023. Both models will be available either as an ambient version, or a variant that can support a fully refrigerated box.

In the meantime, the company is continuing testing here in the U.S. with Volta poised to launch a Driving Experience program for fleet buyers later this year. The program will give interested fleet companies a pilot fleet of Volta Zero trucks that will be used in real-world distribution scenarios. These trucks will allow the firms to understand how they can be integrated into their existing commercial fleet while also giving Volta valuable real-world test data. A similar program is already in progress back in Europe and the U.S. spin on this program will start on the west coast before gradually expanding further into the country the next few years.

 

Volta Also Aiming To Ease EV Adoption

While the trucks themselves are certainly very capable in their own right, it wouldn’t mean very much if the company is unable to convince fleet buyers to take them into their vehicle roster. To help achieve this, Volta will be embarking on a campaign to help ease the transition to EVs. That include the company’s Trucks-As-A-Service plan with the arraignment aiming to reduce the hassles and complications of EV adoption. That includes adopting a simplified fee structure that allows companies to fully fund a Volta Zero.

In addition, Volta will also be offering Volta Truck Hubs for vehicle service and maintenance with the hubs being located close to commercial service hubs while a separate pool of certified service partner facilities will also allow the company to expand the geographical reach of its service operations which should please some customers that might either be far away from a hub or prefer to have their own service provider do the maintenance.

 

Volta Announces Series Production

In addition to making its debut at ACT, Volta also confirmed that it has begun production of the first batch of series models for consumer consumption at Steyer Automotive’s manufacturing plant in Austria. This first batch of consumer trucks comes on the heels of validation and prototypes which helped Steyer and Volta gain data on the truck while also allowing Steyer to make adjustments on the production line. Order books for the trucks in Europe have also opened up, but it remains unknown when the same will happen for U.S. customers.