Former Volvo Executive launches start-up to spark industrialization of electric commercial trucks
Patrick Collignon, former chief operating officer for Volvo Trucks North and South America, has launched Trova Commercial Vehicles (TrovaCV). The new company offers customized engineering and manufacturing expertise for commercial vehicles, specifically fully electric trucks.
TrovaCV will focus on the engineering, design and production of fully electric commercial vehicles with the goal of achieving mass production cost-effectively. TrovaCV will offer its industrial model and manufacturing capability to other commercial vehicle OEMs while developing its own fully electric vehicle.
“This is an exciting time as the electric commercial vehicle market is being reshaped,” says Collignon, founder and CEO. “While technology and innovation have made it possible to convert fuel-powered commercial vehicles into electric vehicles, we haven’t seen a production model capable of producing the required volume of fully electric commercial vehicles to meet the demand.
“We believe that our engineering approach will offer OEMs the opportunity to build a higher volume of electric vehicles at a lower cost. At the same time, we will utilize our chassis design experience to achieve a complete EV build design from the ground up.”
TrovaCV is located in a business incubation center in Fairlawn, Va., and has received support from the Pulaski County Board of Supervisors, the Economic Development Authority and the Virginia Economic Development Partnership (VEDP).
“The technology and advanced manufacturing talents in the county and throughout the region continue to attract and support innovative companies like TrovaCV,” says Jonathan D. Sweet,county administrator, Pulaski County, Virginia. “We are excited to have TrovaCV as the newest member of our business community and we are committed to helping them grow their operations and achieving their goals here in Pulaski County.”
Virginia Secretary of Commerce and Trade Brian Ball believes the presence of TrovaCV will help strengthen the Commonwealth’s position as one of the nation’s premier locations for innovative vehicle design.
“We are excited that Trova Commercial Vehicles will launch its innovative start-up in Pulaski County,” said Ball. “This new company will be a strong addition to the booming automotive cluster in the New River Valley, bringing automotive expertise to the niche market of electric commercial truck design and manufacturing. TrovaCV will benefit from the region’s world-class manufacturing workforce and infrastructure that contribute to Virginia’s position as a leader in the automotive industry, and we look forward to its future success.”
Collignon has more than 30 years international experience in the commercial vehicle industry with General Motors and the Volvo Group. Before launching TrovaCV, he served as senior vice president of operations for the Americas for Volvo Trucks, where he led a strategic initiative to develop and manufacture the new Mack medium duty truck platform.
During his career, Collignon has incubated several companies and held board positions in economic and industry federations. In 2007, he was instrumental in making the Volvo plant in Ghent, Belgium, the first carbon dioxide neutral automotive plant in the world. He has extensive experience in end-to-end value chain management, customer relationship management, product development and operations.
