Fully-electric commercial vehicle manufacturer Volta Trucks has announced the largest pre-order for electric trucks in Europe to date with logistics provider DB Schenker.
In total, some 1,470 16-tonne all-electric Volta Zero trucks have been ordered and will be used in DB Schenker’s European terminals at 10 locations in five countries to transport goods from distribution hubs to the city centres and urban areas.
Prior to delivery of the vehicles, DB Schenker will use a prototype in real distribution conditions in spring and summer of 2022. The findings from these tests will be incorporated into the serial production of the 1,470 vehicles, which will be built at Volta Trucks’ new contract manufacturing facility in Steyr, Austria.
Essa Al-Saleh, CEO of Volta Trucks, said: “Working with DB Schenker on Europe’s largest full-electric truck order demonstrates the confidence that major freight distributors have in our ability to deliver a world-class zero-emission vehicle on time and to the highest possible quality.”
The pre-order of 1,470 vehicles equates to approximately 3% of DB Schenker’s current 45,000-strong land transport fleet, of which the vast majority do not belong to DB Schenker itself, but to partner companies that drive on DB Schenker’s behalf.
Cyrille Bonjean, executive vice president for land transport at DB Schenker in Europe, said: “We have many challenges to overcome on the road to carbon neutrality. The large-scale partnership with Volta Trucks allows us to significantly increase the pace of electrification of our fleet and invest in greener transport solutions, brings us closer again to our goal of carbon neutral logistics.”
Both companies will also jointly develop specifications for the previously announced 12-tonne Volta Zero variant, conducting site testing to accelerate vehicle deployment of vehicles, and train drivers.