Swedish electric commercial vehicle manufacturer Volta Trucks is expanding its UK-based Research and Development capabilities.

This comes as the company announces a programme of prototype full-electric 16-tonne commercial vehicles for customer evaluation in London and Paris by mid-2022, ahead of series production starting by the end of next year.

The expanding Research and Development team is primarily based near Reading, UK, close to where the London vehicles will operate. The scalable offices can currently accommodate over 110 engineers working on the world’s first purpose-built, full-electric 16-tonne commercial vehicle, as well as the forthcoming 7.5, 12 and 19-tonne variants. The team is networked to UK vehicle testing facilities where the company’s first prototype vehicles are already running, and the forthcoming manufacturing plant in Steyr, Austria. It is also connected to the company’s headquarters in Stockholm and regional offices in Paris and other European cities.

Volta Trucks has embarked on an ambitious recruitment drive to accelerate the development of the full-electric Volta Zero. Having started in 2021 with a handful of employees the headcount now stands at over 150 as Volta Trucks continues to search for talented and progressively minded engineers, and industrial and commercial experts to bring vehicles to market on time. The ambition is to have more than 280 employees by the end of 2021, with over 70 open positions currently advertised and additional roles being frequently added.

Chief Executive Officer of Volta Trucks, Essa Al-Saleh said, “We now have a UK home for our engineers, close to where our Pilot Fleet vehicles will soon operate with customers in London. The UK has a long history of engineering excellence, and this has already proven to be a great source of talent for us, but we now need to accelerate the growth of the company.”

Photo: Prototype Volta electric trucks will operate in London and Paris by mid-2022.