Volta Trucks has revealed its first “Volta Trucks Hub” in Paris that will deliver its Truck as a Service customer-focused operations as the first full-electric Volta Zeros start customer evaluation in mid-2022.
This milestone confirms the first location where vehicles will be serviced and maintained in Paris, with confirmation of the London Hub location due shortly. The “Volta Trucks Hub, Paris” will operate eight workshop bays for the routine servicing of vehicles, including the new equipment needed to keep full-electric commercial vehicles maintained and to minimise downtime. The Hub will also host admin offices, a Volta Trucks Academy training centre and a Call Centre.
The Volta Trucks Hub is in Bonneuil-sur-Marne, to the south-east of Paris, and will serve the logistics centres of Rungis, Orly, Créteil, and Bonneuil where the first Volta Trucks’ customers already have distribution warehouses. The company notes that the location was chosen for its access to the A86 Périphérique and the extension of the N406 road towards the Haropa port that provides river and train terminals for “several potential customers”. The facility offers 2,100m2 on a 5,000m2 plot and will serve more than 600 trucks per year.
The Volta Trucks Hub, Paris is part of a wider strategy that will see a vehicle service offering across all initial launch locations of Paris, London, Madrid, Milan, the Rhine-Ruhr region of Germany, and the Randstad region of the Netherlands. The first Hub in Paris will cover the south of the city, with an additional Hub covering the main logistics and distribution centres in the north of Paris to be confirmed. The Volta Trucks site strategy covers large metropolitan areas next to logistics centres but is also designed to anticipate the shift towards multi-modal transport including rivers and trains, not just focused on the continental long-distance transport network.
The network of Volta Trucks Hubs is designed to enable the company’s Truck as a Service offer, which sets out to “revolutionise the finance and servicing” of commercial vehicle fleets. Truck as a Service is further aimed at accelerating the adoption of electric commercial vehicles by delivering what Volta calls a “frictionless and hassle-free” way to electrify fleets whilst “de-risking the migration” for Fleet Operators.
To use the Truck as a Service solution, Volta charges a monthly fee that funds the use of a full-electric Volta Zero vehicle, and all of its servicing, maintenance, insurance, and training requirements. It also provides a replacement Volta Zero when needed, maximising the uptime and operational efficiency of the vehicle.
Confirming the first Volta Trucks Hub, Paris, Casper Norden, Chief Fleet Solutions Officer of Volta Trucks, said: “The confirmation of our first Truck as a Service Hub is a significant milestone on our journey to the production of our vehicles. Uptime is critical for our customers, and the forthcoming opening of this facility gives our customers the confidence to know where their vehicles will be maintained to the highest standards.
“It also gives us a base for our Volta Trucks Academy training school for drivers, sales teams, and the technicians who will work on the vehicles. It gives us a Hub and a home in every market, with Paris as our first. I look forward to rolling out similar facilities in London soon, and all of our other European launch cities in 2023”.
The announcement of the first hub follows the conclusion of a Series C funding round in February which saw the Swedish firm raise €230 million.
Find more information about Volta Trucks and the Volta Trucks Hub, Paris on its website.
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