Siemens Smart Infrastructure and Volta Trucks, a full-electric commercial vehicle manufacturer and services provider, announced a strategic partnership to deliver and scale eMobility charging infrastructure to simplify the transition to fleet electrification.
The companies signed a letter of intent outlining the cooperation, whereby they will jointly seek to deliver turnkey solutions for fleets to transition to zero-emission urban transportation through an end-to-end, integrated and comprehensive feature set around charging, facility upgrading and energy management solutions. The offering will be designed to require minimal upfront investment or technical knowledge. The partnership brings together Volta Trucks’ unique approach to commercial fleet electrification and operational expertise through Truck as a Service, and Siemens’ global experience in software control systems, facility electrification, charging infrastructure, energy management, building equipment and Siemens Financial Services’ – and third parties’ – financing expertise in smart infrastructure projects.
In doing so, it will support Volta Trucks’ customers by providing infrastructure for full electrification aligned with their operational needs.
In June this year, Siemens launched Siemens Xcelerator, a new, open digital business platform featuring a curated portfolio of IoT-enabled hardware and software, a powerful ecosystem of partners, and a marketplace. The objective is to deliver digital solutions for commercial and industrial customers, together with key partners, in an agile, co-creation approach.
“Through our partnership with Volta Trucks, we intend to co-create Transportation as a Service solutions, and deliver Volta Trucks’ customers higher uptime, a commitment to reliability through performance-based contracts, and reduced energy expenditure. As commercial fleets look to meet sustainability goals and deliver cost effective, robust infrastructure solutions, we are pleased to be able to partner with Volta Trucks,” said Thomas Kiessling, Chief Technology Officer of Siemens Smart Infrastructure.
The strategic collaboration will lead, and actively manage, customers through the design of their fleet electrification journey. The technical infrastructure of the installations will be overseen by Siemens, including the hardware and software required to operate the charging and power distribution infrastructure for fleets of Volta Zeros, the world’s first purpose-built, full-electric 16-ton commercial vehicle, built for safer and more sustainable cities.
Through Siemens’ performance management platform, the partners will aim to continually optimize the entire operation to achieve higher uptime at minimum expenditure. This optimization approach will be powered by advanced analytical and simulation models and considers factors such as fleet duty cycles, charging times, battery life, optimal energy utilization and costs, and asset management.
“I am delighted that Volta Trucks will be working with Siemens to bring industry-leading charging infrastructure solutions for our Truck as a Service customers,” said Essa Al-Saleh, Chief Executive Officer of Volta Trucks. “To deliver the electrification of urban logistics at pace and scale, we need operationally efficient electrification infrastructure aligned to the exact requirement of each fleet. In Siemens, we have a world-class partner with the innovative technical solutions our customers will expect. Together, we are confident that our partnership with accelerate the migration to electrification.”
By establishing the partnership with Volta Trucks and its Truck as a Service solution – which revolutionizes the ownership, finance and servicing of commercial fleets – Siemens seeks to support the delivery of turnkey transport solutions to simplify the transition to fleet electrification. This would lead to vast benefits for customers. Siemens and Volta Trucks will work together to fully manage the infrastructure, and the power capacity from the grid, or on-premise sustainable power sources.
Customers therefore will have all their depot energy needs captured and managed as part of the design and installation process, ensuring load capacity is increased in line with the sites’ real-time demands. The optimized charging infrastructure will be highly cost-efficient, not only at the point of installation, but also through charging algorithms that allow fleets to manage energy costs without compromising routing and service requirements.
Safety too, is paramount. Volta Trucks is revolutionizing last-mile logistics by delivering safer, more sustainable, full-electric trucks that protect vulnerable road users and improve city center environments for all. For 175 years now, Siemens has safely and responsibly provided innovative technologies with the aspiration to improve the lives of people all over the world, and providing Volta’s customers with robust, reliable, safe infrastructure for their electric transport needs will be tantamount to the partnership’s success.
