Swedish electric commercial vehicle manufacturer Volta Trucks will use integrated navigation services – including What3Words – from Here Technologies to improve inner-city deliveries.

Its forthcoming Volta Zero will feature the location data and technology platform, including EV Range Assistant, a feature from Here tailored for inner-city deliveries. It includes range prediction for lorries on route and allows for route planning including multiple delivery stops. Search, routing, real-time traffic and turn-by-turn voice guidance will be available both on and offline. 

Here Navigation allows Volta Trucks to take advantage of the navigation-as-a-servicemodel to deliver a simplified infotainment supply chain and development process. The benefits include lowering costs and improving scalability, and it allows Volta to deliver in-vehicle-infotainment that can be remotely configured and monitored by users, making it possible to update and upgrade the driver experience.

Secure data transfer between the lorry and cloud enhances driver safety and privacy, while also accessing the latest map data via streaming.

Drivers will be able to use What3Words geolocation technology. What3Words is a simple way to identify a location in a manner that is more precise than a street address. It has divided the world into a grid of three metre squares and given each square a unique combination of three random words: a What3Words address. Drivers can enter What3Words addresses directly into their in-truck systems, allowing them to navigate to locations as specific as building entrances or loading bays, suitable for busy drivers making multiple deliveries in a city. 

“I’m delighted to confirm Here as the provider of our navigation system for the Volta Zero, including the integration of What3Words,” said Ian Collins, chief product officer of Volta Trucks. “Here Technologies is another world-class partner for Volta Trucks, delivering the full features of embedded navigation but with the user experience of a mobile navigation application. With Here Navigation, we can provide innovative and differentiated experiences to our drivers while simplifying our supply chain, a key benefit supporting our accelerated route to market.”

Gino Ferru, senior vice president at Here Technologies, added: “We are pleased to be putting the long experience gained working with leading OEMs to good use by helping Volta Trucks offer the best navigation experience to its truck drivers. Navigating 16-tonne trucks within city centres is a challenge in itself. With our truck attributes and our EV range calculator, Volta Zero drivers can focus on what matters the most – the road ahead.”

The Volta Zero is a purpose-built full-electric 16-tonne vehicle designed for urban logistics, reducing the environmental impact of freight deliveries in city centres. Designed with an operating pure-electric range of 150 to 200km, it could eliminate an estimated 1.2 million tonnes of CO₂ by 2025.

Thanks to the removal of the internal combustion engine, the operator of a Volta Zero sits in a central driving position, with a much lower seat height than a conventional truck. This combination, plus a glass house-style cab design, gives the driver 220-degrees of visibility, reducing dangerous blind spots. The prototype Volta Zero was launched in September 2020, with the first vehicles expected to be operating with users in mid-2022. 

In November 2021, Volta Trucks announced Europe’s largest purchase of full-electric trucks with DB Schenker’s order of 1470 vehicles. This followed Petit Forestier’s order of 1000 Volta Zeros. Volta Trucks now has a total order bank of around 4500 vehicles, with an order bank value of circa €1bn.

Volta Trucks’ head office is in Stockholm, Sweden, with its engineering led from the UK, and forthcoming manufacturing facility in Steyr, Austria. The company also has sales teams across France, Spain, Italy, Germany, and the UK.

Co-founded in London in 2013 by Chris Sheldrick, What3Words is a simple way to talk about location. The system covers the entire world, never needs updating and works offline. A What3Words address is a human-friendly way to share very precise locations with other people, or to input them into platforms and machines such as ride-hailing apps or ecommerce checkouts. It is optimised for voice input and contains built-in error prevention to identify and correct input mistakes.

The free What3Words app, available for iOS and Android, and the online map enable people to find, share and navigate to What3Words addresses in 50 languages to date. Millions of What3Words addresses are in use around the world.

What3Words is integrated into apps, platforms and web sites, with just a few lines of code. Products are available for free or for a nominal fee for qualifying NGOs. Its partners include Mercedes-Benz, Triumph Motorcycles, Premier Inn, the AA and many emergency services across the world.

What3Words has a team of over 100 people, across offices in the UK, USA, Germany and Mongolia. The company has raised over £100mn in capital from investors such as Intel, Aramex, Deutsche Bahn, Subaru and Sony.