Prodrive, Volta Trucks Develop Electric Truck for Urban Driving

February 1, 2020

Stuart Birch

Trucks face two major issues in an urban environment, according to Prodrive’s Steve Price: emissions and safety concerns.

Mention the name Prodrive and most people will think of motorsport together with all the advanced technology that goes with it. But as an automotive consultancy, the company is now applying its capabilities to an advanced pure-electric truck project that has an added design aspect: to keep vulnerable road users safer in crowded environments.

Working with Swedish start-up Volta Trucks, Prodrive is helping to engineer what promises to be a unique 16-tonne (17.6-ton) heavy goods vehicle (HGV). Prodrive has overall engineering responsibility for the vehicle and program delivery including cab, chassis and electrical architecture. The truck will incorporate a “street level” cabin placed ahead of the front axle, with the driving position much lower than normal and placed centrally, giving the driver a 220-degree field of vision. Passenger seating is behind the driver.

Other project collaborators are Magtec, supplier of electric commercial-vehicle drive systems; Astheimer a specialist design studio; and Conjure, an HMI (human-machine interface) specialist. Development targets include delivering a prototype by mid-2020 with a drivable demonstrator completed later in the year.

Volta Trucks’ pure-electric design emphasizes greater safety for vulnerable road users in crowded urban environments. Prodrive has overall engineering responsibility including for the cab, chassis and electrical architecture.

“Trucks face two major issues in an urban environment. Not only are diesel engines rapidly becoming unacceptable [due to low- and zero-emission zones], but the category is disproportionately represented in accidents involving death and injuries among pedestrians and cyclists,” said Steve Price, the truck project leader at Prodrive. “Volta Trucks has taken the design opportunity provided by electrification to re-imagine the layout of a conventional truck—and simultaneously address emissions and safety concerns.”

Safety elements in the truck will include extensive cabin glazing and the use of rearview cameras instead of mirrors to help eliminate driver blind spots. Bus-style doors on each side will employ a slide/swing action to minimize intrusion into pedestrian or cyclists’ space.

Volta Trucks was founded in early 2019 by entrepreneur Carl-Magnus Norden, its CEO, and Kjell Walöen, its chief technical officer whose career includes automotive experience at Ford, Volvo Cars and Polestar. Their targets for the 16-tonne prototype include a 100-mile (160-km) range and a top speed of 50 mph (80 km/h). The truck will have a composite body (natural not carbon fiber, stresses the company) sitting on a spaceframe chassis. Production vehicles will be available from 14 to 18 tonnes (15.4 to 19.8 tons).

A low, central driving position in Volta’s 16-tonne truck gives the driver a 220-degree field of vision.

During manufacture of the prototype batch, Prodrive will gradually handover build responsibility to an at-present-undecided production supplier but will retain engineering responsibility and oversee ongoing development. As part of its remit, Prodrive will help identify the suppliers of key production components while constructing the prototype, which will help fast track its development.

The demonstrator vehicle combines an existing donor rear-chassis ladder frame with the cab and front structure. User experience, termed Street Pilot, will be gained via various retailers in London and Paris in 2021. Production target is 2,000 units per annum.

Safety emphasis

Across Europe, new safety technologies for HGVs will become mandatory in 2022, based on an agreement between the European Parliament, Council and Commission. The Volta project’s emphasis on safety in urban environments, in particular, is illustrated by a 2016 report via the Mayor of London’s office stating that 23% of pedestrian and 58% of cyclists’ deaths in London involved a heavy goods vehicle, even though HGVs made up only 4% of road miles in the city.

A Direct Vision Standard regulation will be applied in London in 2020, rating HGVs 12 tonnes (13.2 tons) and above based on the level of direct vision a driver has through the cab windows. Vehicles failing to reach required levels will be banned from parts of London. From late 2020, London-wide ULEZ (Ultra-low Emission Zones) will be established as well.

Prodrive will draw from past EV-development programs for the Volta truck project. The company led the fast-track development of the PHEV (plug-in hybrid) version of the Ford Transit Custom, building a fleet of 20 vehicles for a 12-month trial in use in London. The production Transit PHEV is now entering production and has been named International Van of the Year 2020.

Volta Trucks’ Norden emphasized that Prodrive was sufficiently big to assemble a multi-skilled team quickly “yet small enough to retain the agility needed when introducing new technology.” Its independence from established suppliers is also a valuable asset, he said, to help ensure that “all engineering decisions are completely impartial.”