Just over a month after announcing customer orders for over 300 of its flagship Zero electric trucks, commercial EV startup Volta Trucks announced it has secured the necessary certification to produce and sell its vehicles in Europe. This is welcomed news as the company is still aiming for a start of series production of the trucks next quarter.
Volta Trucks is a London-based commercial EV startup that offers “Trucks as a Service” (TaaS). Since its inception in 2019, the company has been consistently working to deliver its first commercial truck, the Volta Zero, which began as a mere concept drawing.
The Zero went from drawing board to assembly line in a mere twelve months, as documented by Volta Trucks and reported by Electrek last fall, following prototype testing under extremely hot conditions.
Even with its lightning-fast pace in electric truck development, Volta Trucks has been able to stay on track in its timeline to begin series production in Europe by Q2 of 2023, which will eventually be followed by US manufacturing as well. In January, Volta relayed the same progress in reaching series production, pending vital certification to proceed, but shared that it has already secured customer orders for over 300 Zero Trucks when the builds finally begin.
Today, Volta Trucks explained it is one step closer to series production in Europe following its official certification from the European Community Whole Vehicle Type Approval (ECWVTA).
Volta Trucks on schedule for series production in Europe
According to a release from Volta Trucks today, its 16-ton version of the Volta Zero has achieved European Whole Vehicle Type Approval, enabling its makers to produce and sell the all-electric trucks in volume.
The newly awarded certification means that all Volta’s electric vehicles meet stringent environmental, safety, and security standards for markets in Europe in which the trucks underwent multiple system and individual component testing in areas that include braking, steering, lighting and glazing, in addition to the vehicle’s safety systems. Volta Trucks CEO Essa Al-Saleh spoke:
Receiving the European Community Whole Vehicle Type Approval is a huge milestone for Volta Trucks, and our mission to make city center streets safer and more sustainable for all. We’ve developed a completely new vehicle from the ground up, and it’s a testament to our engineering and developments teams that the Volta Zero has passed these stringent and demanding tests so quickly. We are now all set for the start of Series Production at our manufacturing facility in Steyr, Austria, to put trucks into the hands of our customers, and start the work of delivering on our mission.
Volta Trucks states that while series production of the 16-ton Zero Trucks is imminent, the startup’s second-generation of “production verification” prototypes will soon be delivered to several customers in Europe as part of a pilot fleet of EVs. The verification trucks will be loaned to customers for extended periods of time so fleet operators can fully understand how the medium-duty, electric trucks can be integrated into their given operations.
Volta Trucks also shared that series production of the first Volta Zeros for customers are due to begin rolling off the line at the aforementioned contract manufacturing facility in Steyr, Austria, in early Q2 2023.