An electric truck pioneer has unveiled its new Tevva Truck – the first British designed 7.5-tonne electric truck intended for mass production.
“The Tevva Truck will address the immediate industry need to electrify, with the EU committed to net zero emissions by 2050 alongside a proposed ban on the sale of all polluting vehicles by 2035,” its maker said.
The truck was launched at the Freight in the City Expo at Alexandra Palace, London, today.
It offers a range of up to 250km (155 miles) in fully electric form or up to 500km (310 miles) with its patented range extender technology REX which has now been upgraded to use hydrogen fuel cells.
Engineered by a team led by Ken Scott, formerly engineering director at both Bentley and Alexander Dennis, and styled by Dale Grewer, former chief designer at Jaguar Land Rover, the Tevva Truck will be manufactured in a new factory in the London Thames Freeport area providing close proximity to central London and Europe.
The plants is expected to begin manufacturing 3,000 trucks a year by 2023.
Thanks to strong supplier deals, fleet operators can expect to benefit from an extremely reliable BEV powertrain paired with an exceptionally robust and proven truck-derived chassis, Tevva said.
Asher Bennett, Tevva CEO, said: “Technology is transforming the commercial vehicle sector at pace, making it safer, greener, and entirely more efficient. But meaningful change is a gradual process, it must happen one step at a time, even if those changes are needed in fast succession. The truck provides a natural transition into electrification for fleet managers, providing total peace of mind and a compelling total cost of ownership proposition, with no compromise on range and reliability.”
The EV truck can carry up to 16 euro pallets and over two tonnes payload at 7.5-tonnes Gross Vehicle Weight (GVW). The total cost of ownership is comparable to a diesel; parity is achieved at approximately 3,000km or when 500 litres of diesel is consumed per month.
The truck is Tevva’s third generation vehicle, representing the culmination of seven years of engineering development and the learning gathered from over 350,000km of in-fleet trials.
Production is due to commence in July 2022.