Delivery Truck Being Designed of Sustainable Natural Woven Composites
Featuring panels made from sustainable, natural, woven flax composites and an all-electric drivetrain, the Volta Zero electric truck is a clean, efficient way for logistics companies to transport goods.
Volta Trucks is designing the prototype of an all-electric truck, the Volta Zero, which will meet the company’s goal of providing the delivery industry a low emission, more sustainable option for trucks used in urban settings.
The Volta Zero is being designed with carbon-neutral flax and biodegradable resin composites that were developed in collaboration with the European Space Agency. Bcomp's patented powerRibs™ grid technology, which reinforces the company’s ampliTex™ flax fiber technical fabric, matches the stiffness and weight of carbon fiber but uses 75% less CO2 to produce. The flax mat is combined with Bamd’s biodegradable, rape seed oil-based resin to produce the exterior body panels for the truck. The powerRibs™ and ampliTex™ composite body panels are flexible and bend, providing additional safety factors should an accident occur.
Sustainable throughout the entire lifecycle of the materials, when no longer useful, flax composite parts can be burned and used for thermal energy recovery.
The Volta Zero’s all-electric drivetrain is powered by a 160-200-kWh battery pack and has a range of up to 200 km, more than adequate for urban delivery routes.
Chief Executive Officer of Volta Trucks, Rob Fowler, said, “Every Volta Zero will remove tonnes of CO2 from our city's atmospheres but we believe that sustainability is more than just tailpipe emissions, so we have taken an environmental-first approach to all material sourcing. This includes the world's first use of a natural Flax and biodegradable resin composite in body panel construction that is CO2 neutral and fully recyclable. We will continue to strain every sinew to ensure we deliver on our mission of becoming the world's most sustainable commercial vehicle manufacturer."
The first prototype Volta Zero is under construction and the company plans to debut the test vehicle in early 2021.
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