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Volta’s raised around $316 million in funding and will start testing its first model—a 16-ton delivery vehicle—with customers later this year. Volta announced it is adding two smaller options—a 7.5-ton and a 12-ton model—to its line-up of battery-electric delivery trucks.The new, smaller Volta Zero trucks are supposed to start production in 2025.Volta is growing its line-up of Zero electric delivery trucks by adding 7.5-ton and 12-ton models to the mix. The new trucks are designed with maneuverability in mind, with both options aiming to make it easier for drivers to maneuver these commercial vehicles in more dense urban areas.

With these new options, Volta’s Zero line includes a total of four models—all of which are designed for urban freight movement. The original model is a 16-ton truck that uses either a standard—150-kWh—or high-capacity—225-kWh—battery pack (we suspect both figures reflect the packs’ maximum, rather than useable, capacity) to achieve a manufacturer-estimated driving range of 90 or 125 miles, respectively. Customers are due to start testing the 16-ton electric vehicle later this year. Volta also previously announced an 18-ton model that’s due to start production sometime in the middle of 2023.Volta is a Swedish company with a focus on the European market, a region with consumers who are interested in more compact commercial EV options. The Zero 7.5- and 12-ton trucks ought to appeal to such buyers. Customer trials for the newly announced models are set to kick off in 2024, with full-line production planned for early 2025.

Volta

Volta notes the new 7.5- and 12-ton trucks share a “close but evolutionary visual relationship” with the brand’s larger 16- and 18-ton models. Like those electric trucks, the smaller Volta Zero EVs feature airy, glasshouse-style cabs and a seating position that’s lower than comparable trucks with internal combustion engines. The original Zero truck was designed to make the driver’s perspective more street-level, with an eyesight level of around under six feet. To further help the driver better see the road around them, Volta fits its Zero trucks with cameras in place of side mirrors, while the glass-heavy cab offers the driver a forward field of view of 220 degrees. Arguably the most noticeable difference between these smaller Zero trucks and their larger kin is the fact the new models do without a third axle.In February, Volta announced it raised $260 million in a Series C funding round, bringing its total funding to around $316 million. Volta said it has already received customer orders for more than 6,000 vehicles, including “Europe’s largest purchase of full-electric trucks”, thanks to an order of 1,470 vehicles by DB Schenker. Petit Forestier has also ordered 1,000 Volta Zeros. Volta plans to build 5,000 trucks per year starting in 2023 at a plant in Steyr, Austria. By 2025, Volta’s annual production capacity is due to increase to 27,000 vehicles.
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Ultium energy recovery captures heat generated as an electric vehicle moves—from the motor or the battery or even from the people in the car—and uses it as a heat source elsewhere.General Motors developed the system to improve efficiency—and it does, by up to 10 percent, according to the company. GM claims the setup even contributes to the GMC Hummer EV’s hair-raising acceleration performance.Eking out every last bit of energy from an electric vehicle’s battery pack is an important engineering task. General Motors’s latest trick to make the most of a battery-electric vehicle’s energy comes courtesy of a new kind of heat pump that recovers excess heat energy—from the battery, the powertrain, or even the people in the car—and uses it to warm the cabin and extend the vehicle’s driving range.

GM calls this new technology Ultium energy recovery, and as its name suggests, the tech applies to the company’s line of Ultium-based battery-electric vehicles. This list currently includes the GMC Hummer EV, with the Chevrolet Silverado EV and Cadillac Lyriq due soon. Other Ultium vehicles are in the works, too, including the Cadillac Celestiq sedan, and GM notes the Ultium energy recovery system will come standard on every one of its current and future Ultium-based EVs.

GMC

The heat sources the Ultium energy recovery system draws from include the battery itself, various power electronics, some propulsion components, and—most interestingly—the body heat of the people within the cabin, as well as humidity in and outside of the vehicle. The Ultium energy recovery system then uses this captured heat to warm the cabin. GM estimates this heating solution can extend the range of an EV by as much as 10 percent. Additionally, GM claims the Ultium energy recovery system can warm the cabin of its EVs in less time than “comparable systems” of vehicles with internal combustion engines. The setup also offers potential performance enhancements. For instance, Ultium energy recovery helps cool the Hummer EV’s propulsion system when the vehicle’s placed in its Watts to Freedom mode. As such, the big pickup’s powertrain can be pushed harder without overheating, thus resulting in the Hummer EV’s 60-mph time of around three seconds.
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The Loki Basecamp XL Coach Series is based on the Prevost X3-45 VIP.Loki Basecamp calls the model the “ultimate motorhome for active adventurers.”Motivation comes courtesy of a Volvo-sourced D13 six-cylinder engine with 1850 pound-feet of torque.In 1973, Led Zeppelin and Elton John each started world tours. Each band calculated that it was more cost-effective to rent a jumbo jet with a fireplace, a bed covered in fur, an electric organ, and a stocked bar topped with cocaine mirrors than flying, taking a bus, and booking hotels. Maybe, in fact, the “Starship One” was cheaper.

It’s also arguably better to camp in a 45-foot coach bus with a deployable outdoor grill and 203 gallons of diesel than sleep on top of a Subaru Outback. Let’s face it, sometimes the numbers don’t have to add up. This converted Prevost X3-45 VIP—itself a tour bus used by the likes of musicians—is one of the ultimate rigs for recreational vehicle enthusiasts.

Loki Basecamp

Modified by Loki Basecamp, a Québécois outfitter of pickup truck campers, the XL Coach Series is the “ultimate motorhome for active adventurers.” Hence, there’s a rooftop light bar blasting 76,000 lumens to help the adventurer avoid tree limbs and bridges. The bus is nearly 12 feet high, after all. When parked, the real woodsy people can pitch a tent on the roof deck next to a 2.0-kilowatt solar array—assuming the two queen beds and double bunks within the bus are already occupied. The interior design is either disappointingly sordid—almost as if it were a college dorm suite—or minimalist chic. We’ve tested RVs and little Airstream trailers with insides that look more luxurious, though admittedly none of the offered a rainfall shower inside a full-sized bathroom, had a washer/dryer combo, or heated floors.

Loki Basecamp

Power shades and thick R16-rated insulation keep the party sealed (there’s a thumping Paradigm stereo and three televisions, too). Loki Basecamp reserves the Prevost’s underfloor storage for the slide-out grille and mountain bike racks. There are more L-Track rails inside the bus to hold gear.As for off-road performance, there’s no treading lightly with a 31,000-pound curb weight. The front overhang is six feet long, so Prevost hides any mention of approach and departure angles. However, the vehicle’s 11.0 inches of ground clearance bests that of a standard Ford Bronco, and the Volvo-sourced D13 six-cylinder engine belts out 1850 pound-feet of torque at 1050 rpm. The price is undisclosed.According to Loki Basecamp, when a customer asked for the company’s biggest and best camper, “we simply could not resist.” Who could?
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