Tevva Beats Many to BEV Truck Punch
An UK automotive start-up has beaten many larger automakers to market by unveiling its production ready BEV delivery truck.
The company, Tevva, has created a British designed 7.5-ton electric truck intended for mass production. It claims to offer a range of up to 160 miles in pure BEV form or up to 310 miles with its patented range extender technology, which has now been upgraded to use hydrogen fuel cells.
Engineered by a team led by Ken Scott, formerly engineering director at both Bentley and Alexander Dennis, and styled by Dale Grewer, former chief designer at Jaguar Land Rover, the Tevva Truck will be manufactured in a new facility in the London Thames Freeport area providing close proximity to central London and Europe.
The 36,000 square feet manufacturing plant is expected to create an additional 1,000 skilled mechanical, software, engineering, and manufacturing jobs in the next 24 months, adding to the 60 plus jobs already created this year. It is initially expected to begin manufacturing 3,000 trucks per annum by 2023.
Future technical developments already being tested could enable the Tevva Truck to be fully charged in just one hour, aiding double shift operations to help reduce the total cost of ownership. Asher Bennett, founder and CEO of Tevva said: “Technology is transforming the commercial vehicle sector at pace, making it safer, greener, and entirely more efficient. But meaningful change is a gradual process, it must happen one step at a time, even if those changes are needed in fast succession. The Tevva Truck provides a natural transition into electrification for fleet managers, providing total peace of mind and a compelling total cost of ownership proposition, with no compromise on range and reliability and minimized compromise on payload.”
— Paul Myles is a seasoned automotive journalist based in Europe. Follow him on Twitter @Paulmyles_
