Astheimer Design is the strategic design partner behind the Volta Zero, a full-electric commercial truck designed to decarbonise urban logistics. Volta Trucks and Astheimer Design were recently recognised with a 2021 Dezeen Product Design award for the Volta Zero. Dezeen judges celebrated the battery-electric truck for its low environmental impact with last-mile freight deliveries, a design that shifts away from vans and cars to zero-emission distribution with enhanced driver and pedestrian safety.
The Volta Zero
The fully electric 16-tonne (17.6-U.S.-ton) truck was launched as a prototype in September 2020. Volta estimates that by 2025 its vehicles will remove about 1.2 million t (1.32 U.S. t) of carbon dioxide from city centre distribution. The truck has a top speed of 90 km/h (56 mph) and is powered by a 160- or 200-kilowatt-hour battery that gives it a range of between 150 and 200 km (90 to 125 miles). It also has a payload volume of 37.7 cubic metres (1,331 cubic feet) and a maximum payload capacity of 8.6 tonnes (9.48 U.S. tons). Volta Zero prototypes are currently in production and will undergo a rigorous testing regime in early next year, followed by customer evaluation by mid-2022.
A Safer Design
Volta Trucks seeks to enhance driver and pedestrian safety by giving drivers an optimal view of their surroundings through the Volta Zero’s central driving position, lower seat height, and glass house-style cab design.
“It is a rare occurrence for a designer to be given the opportunity to rethink and reinvent a category of vehicle,” says Carsten Astheimer, founder and managing director of Astheimer Design. “The team of designers at Astheimer, led by Russell Gillott, and working hand-in-hand with the growing engineering team at Volta Trucks, have not let this opportunity pass us by, delivering an innovative architecture with a pure, uncompromising design that will make cities safer, keep the air cleaner, and will make deliveries more efficient.”
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Source: Volta Trucks