DB Schenker to develop urban logistics with electric trucks
The future development of urban logistics will be based on full-electric trucks. Such a vision inspired DB Schenker to a significant investment. It has confirmed its intention to purchase around 1,500 all-electric commercial vehicles.
On Tuesday, 30 November, DB Schenker concluded a partnership with Volta Trucks, the Swedish manufacturer of full-electric trucks. The cooperation includes the tests of the 16-tonne Volta Zero lorries real distribution conditions in spring and summer 2022, which will be deployed at 10 locations in 5 countries. The vehicles will deliver goods from DB Schenker’s distribution hubs to the city centres and urban areas.
Afterwards, Volta Trucks will apply the results into the serial production of the electric trucks. As for DB Schenker, it is committed to ordering 1,470 Volta Zero vehicles that will be built at Volta’s manufacturing facility in Steyr, Austria. The partnership 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.
Volta Zero
The Volta Zero is the world’s first purpose-built full-electric 16-tonne vehicle designed specifically for inner-city logistics, reducing the environmental impact of freight deliveries in urban centres. Designed from the ground up with a pure-electric range of 150 to 200 kilometres, the Volta Zero will eliminate an estimated 1.2 million tonnes of CO2 by 2025.
Safety is also at the heart of Volta Trucks, with its ambition of producing the safest trucks for our cities. The Volta Zero was designed for electricity from the outset, which facilitates a step change in vehicle, driver and pedestrian safety. Thanks to the removal of the internal combustion engine, the operator of a Volta Zero sits in a central driving position with a much lower seat height than a conventional truck. This combination, along with the glasshouse-style cabin design, provides the driver with a wide 220-degree field of visibility, minimising dangerous blind spots. The prototype Volta Zero was launched in September 2020, and the first vehicles are expected to be operating with customers in mid-2022.