14th September: Electric and hydrogen truck OEM Tevva has completed the assembly of its first series production battery electric truck, the 7.5-tonne Tevva Truck, as the company reached another pivotal milestone in its journey.

The vehicle rolled off the assembly line in Tilbury, Essex, where it was handed over to Kinaxia Logistics, a leading logistics group operating within the UK transport, warehouse and fulfilment sector.

The 7.5-tonne battery electric truck is the first in a series of commercial vehicles from Tevva, including its 7.5 & 12-tonne hydrogen electric truck and the 19-tonne model of the dual-energy vehicle concept vehicle being unveiled at IAA Transportation next week in Hanover.

The 7.5-tonne battery electric truck model offers a range of up to 180km (110miles), while Tevva’s 7.5-tonne hydrogen electric truck has a range of up to 440km (272miles) due to its range-extender technology.

Tevva’s trucks, which come in both left and right-hand drive, bring a best-in-class combination of capability and cost efficiency from a medium-duty truck with zero emissions at tailpipe while offering the resilience and reassurance of traditional fossil-fuel trucks.

The vehicles have undergone extensive testing. The Tevva Truck most recently completed hot weather testing in Sierra Nevada, Spain, where the vehicle repeatedly climbed to altitudes of more than 2,500 metres whilst fully laden (2.5 tonnes of load). There was no marked drop in performance here, with the truck being put through its paces 300kms north of the Arctic Circle in Finland as part of its cold weather testing. Tevva trucks have accrued nearly half a million kilometres in real-world fleet testing.

The assembly of the truck is a testament to the hard work of Tevva’s team at its production facility in Tilbury. The company is committed to a ‘build where we sell’ philosophy and plans to unveil more details about its plans for continental Europe at the IAA Transportation 2022 show in Hanover, Germany, from Monday, 19 September.

Kinaxia Logistics plans to trial Tevva’s first electric vehicle as an element of its overall environmental reduction strategy and will be provided with 24/7 customer support from Tevva.

Tevva CEO and founder Asher Bennett said: “We are proud to announce another major milestone in our company’s history as the first series production Tevva Truck is rolled off our assembly line. I thank the whole team who have worked tirelessly to reach this goal. We believe our battery and dual-energy vehicles will change the face of the transportation sector and help companies and countries reach their net-zero emission targets. We are also pleased that Kinaxia Logistics has joined us in this endeavour and shares our vision of decarbonising the transport sector.”

Kinaxia Logistics Chief Executive Simon Hobbs said: “As a large and growing transport organisation, we are constantly looking at ways to improve our environmental performance, particularly concerning CO2 emissions.

“Over the years, we have implemented several measures, including better vehicle utilisation, driver training and trialling different fuel types. As a result of our collaboration with Tevva, we have the opportunity to trial our first electric vehicle as another element of our overall environmental reduction strategy. We are very grateful to Tevva for providing this opportunity, and we are excited to test the truck and explore this option further. Being involved in the project and working alongside the Tevva team has been a pleasure. We wish them every success with the launch of the vehicle.”