The Volta e-truck is a game-changer that will make roads safer

FOR me, this truck right here is the true definition of a game-changer.

Not because it is electric.

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Not because it is made with responsible materials.

Not because it dodges ULEZ charges.

But because its core mission is to reduce the number of people killed on our roads.

Here’s some stats for you.

Transport for London says 26 per cent of pedestrian and 78 per cent of cyclist deaths involve a truck, even though they make up just four per cent of road miles.

Volta is the first company who seem to be doing anything about it.

This 16-ton urban delivery truck has been designed from a blank sheet of paper with safety being the absolute priority.

The driver sits low in the middle of a wraparound glass cab with 220 degrees of visibility, eliminating blind spots and mirroring the eye-line of vulnerable pedestrians.

It’s like sitting in a greenhouse.

It also has nine all-round cameras. And sliding doors.

The benefits of which are obvious.

You won’t clothes-line a cyclist with the door when you hop out to make a delivery.

Even better, you can exit on to the pavement and not a busy road.

As you can see from the photos, the cabin has three seats like the legendary McLaren F1 car. Just with a bit more room.

The touchscreen to the left of the flat-bottomed steering wheel is for range and consumption.

The screen on the right is for phone, music and maps.

Just press ‘D’ for drive, and go.

Acceleration is instant and effortless.

The turning circle is comically small. It manoeuvres like a bus.

HEATED SEATS

I say a bus, but a bus with heated seats, cup holders, USB ports, coat hangers and a three-pin socket for anything else that needs power.

Volta’s chief test driver Tony Gardner has been a trucker for 25 years, previously working for McLaren and Red Bull F1 teams, and Eddie Stobart.

He said: “I jumped back in an old truck the other day and it felt like a day’s work. This is easy. Everything is easy.

“I’d happily drive this for the next ten years — and they don’t pay me to say that, they pay me to be objective.”

Volta’s Swedish founder admired the rapid rise of Tesla electric cars and thought he could do the same with trucks.

Now Tesla is building a long-haul Semi truck. But nothing Volta-sized for cities.

This £260k Volta Zero 16T has a 125-mile range, 8,200kg payload and can swallow 16 Euro pallets. In other words, a lot of stuff.

It’s not exactly cheap but bosses insist savings on fuel, servicing and ULEZ charges mean they will be no more expensive than a diesel lorry over time.

Volta has 6,500 orders and is talking to Tesco, DPD, The Crown Estate and more. Smaller 7.5T and 12T trucks will follow by 2025.

The trucks are designed and engineered in Britain and will be built at an old MAN truck factory in Austria from early next year.

Volta is here to make our cities cleaner and safer and stress-free for delivery drivers.

That’s a relief for everyone.

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