Siemens and Volta Trucks join forces in fleet infrastructure
Siemens Smart Infrastructure and Volta Trucks have announced a push to facilitate full fleet electrification. They signed a letter of intent outlining how they will jointly seek to deliver “turnkey solutions” for fleet operators by integrating vehicles, charging infrastructure and energy management.
“The offering will be designed to require minimal upfront investment or technical knowledge,” writes Siemens. Volta Trucks, a startup from Sweden that is already expanding in the US, has just put its first 16-ton truck into production. The 7.5- and 12-tonne models are to follow suit. All are designed for inner-city logistics and focus on the driver, who sits in the middle of a glass cabin. However, the company’s Truck-as-a-Service model is particularly interesting to Siemens, and Volta runs the first service centre in Paris.
The partnership brings together Volta Trucks’ “unique approach to commercial fleet electrification and operational expertise through Truck as a Service,” writes Siemens. At the same time, they will deliver charging infrastructure and software control systems. Energy and building management, as well as financing facilitated by Siemens, are now on the table when ordering with Volta Trucks.
“I am delighted that Volta Trucks will be working with Siemens to bring industry-leading charging infrastructure solutions for our Truck as Service customers,” said Essa Al-Saleh, CEO of Volta Trucks. “To deliver the electrification of urban logistics at pace and scale, we need operationally efficient electrification infrastructure aligned to the exact requirement of each fleet.”
Siemens will, of course, oversee the technical infrastructure, including the hardware and software required to operate the charging and power distribution infrastructure for fleets of Volta Zeros.
Internally the partners will also work to optimise the operation by advanced analytical and simulation models which consider factors such as fleet duty cycles, charging times, battery life, optimal energy utilisation and costs, and asset management.
“Through our partnership with Volta Trucks, we intend to co-create Transportation as a Service solutions, and deliver Volta Trucks’ customers higher uptime, a commitment to reliability through performance-based contracts, and reduced energy expenditure,” said Thomas Kiessling, Chief Technology Officer of Siemens Smart Infrastructure.
Customers therefore will have all their depot energy needs captured and managed as part of the design and installation process, so Siemens ensuring load capacity is increased in line with the sites’ real-time demands. The company claims that the optimised charging infrastructure will be highly cost-efficient, not only at the point of installation but also through charging algorithms that allow fleets to manage energy costs without compromising routing and service requirements.
Volta Trucks targets selling more than 27,000 vehicles annually by 2025 before growing further. The first customers came on board early, with DB Schenker ordering 1,470 EVs in November 2021. This was preceded by Petit Forestier’s order for 1,000 Volta Zero vehicles in late 2020.
First unveiled in 2020, the 16-tonne Volta Zero is designed from the ground up for zero-emission deliveries. According to earlier information, the electric drive systems come from Meritor and the batteries from Proterra. Volta has expanded to versions in the 7.5-tonne, 12-tonne and 19-tonne weight classes in addition to the 16-tonne truck.
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