A worrying statistic reveals that 23 percent of pedestrian and 58 percent of cyclist deaths in London in the past two years involved a Heavy Goods Vehicle.
That’s extremely high, considering that HGVs make up only 4 percent of road miles in the UK capital. Volta Trucks and Prodrive want to address that with a revolutionary design for a truck that they claim will set a new standard for safety.
The idea is to bring to market a 16-tonne electric HGV that’s friendly both to the environment and the most vulnerable road users in crowded urban environments. To do that, Volta Trucks’ Concept HGV positions its driver down low, centrally and forward of the front axle, therefore enabling uninterrupted vision at street level through 220 degrees.
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Furthermore, dangerous blind spots are eliminated thanks to extensive cabin glazing and replacing conventional rear-view mirrors with cameras. Passenger seating is arranged behind the driver, on either side. To further reduce potential hazards, the truck features bus-style doors on both sides with a slide/swing action to minimize intrusion into the path of cyclists or pedestrians.
For now, these images are just CGIs, but Prodrive says it will help develop the design into a driveable demonstrator by early summer 2020. The British company has assumed overall engineering responsibility for the vehicle and program delivery, including cab, chassis and electrical architecture.
Volta Trucks targets a driving range of 100 miles (161 kilometers), a top speed of 50 mph (80 km/h), and the possibility to build the HGV in a range of sizes from 14 to 18 tonnes (30,865-39,683 lbs). Following the planned reveal of the finished prototype in mid-2020 and driving demonstrations, Volta aims to build a fleet of prototypes for field trials in London and Paris with interested parties during 2021. The target manufacturing volume is 2,000 units per year.
