Will this smart truck save the planet? An interview with Tevva
With Heavy Goods Vehicles (HGV’s) still contributing 18% of our total greenhouse gas emissions, sustainability is a hot topic in trucking for 2022.
To learn a bit more about how the industry is gearing up to tackle this challenge, we caught up with Harry Hatchwell from Tevva Electric Trucks to hear how its 7.5 tonne eHGV electric truck is set to have a phenomenal environmental impact across the globe.
Watch the full episode and find a full transcript of the conversation below. Head over to our LinkedIn and YouTube for more content and sign up to our Broker Newsletter for early access to future Flock announcements.
Hey Harry — Welcome to #FlockFridays! Can you first start by telling everyone listening who you are and what you do?
I work at Tevva electric and hydrogen trucks. Our mission is to put hydrogen-electric trucks on the road. Our trucks are the type of trucks that do middle and last-mile delivery, delivering things like Ocado, parcels, all sorts.
We do technology because it matters and makes a difference to humanity and we do everything by that. Fundamentally, by putting our trucks on the road we can clean up the air for our children and their children.
They are very futuristic looking trucks, please tell us more about them?
While we have done what we can to make them look like they are appropriate from a futuristic perspective. A truck is a truck and a truck needs to do the job. It is also a very functional truck.
The total cost of ownership of one of our trucks is on par with that of a diesel which is a very important thing because it looking good isn’t going to sell the truck. It has to be a real substitute for a diesel truck.
The Tevva truck is the first British designed 7.5 ton, electric truck designed for production in the UK. What does this means for you as a business.
You’re absolutely right in saying that we are about to gear up for series production and we are trying to simplify manufacturing as much as we can.
We value the idea of being able to replicate and scale these manufacturing facilities all over the UK, all over the world.
We recently raised 57 million dollars, that’s going to be put towards our first British manufacturing facility and by the middle of next year, that will be in a place to actually begin series production.
We’re aiming for trucks to be in the hands of customers in September and October of 2022.
Will these trucks be driven by humans or will they be autonomous?
Well, there’s two sides to that, first, yes, our trucks will be very much driven by humans. But of course, tomorrow’s future will be autonomy.
We believe we have an amazing autonomous application.
Delivery, of course, is something that needs to be more efficient. And equally, of course, as the evolution of technology forms safe, autonomous applications in urban spaces, we will be working on those sorts of things to ensure that our trucks are very much at the forefront of that and making sure that we are bringing a new layer of safety to the roads in urban spaces.
Can you tell us a bit more about the environmental impact that you’re planning to have on the world?
The problem is that trucks actually emit a quarter of all greenhouse gases on the road around the globe.
Just by converting those diesel trucks to electric we can actually remove about 10 million tons of CO2 by 2030 through transitioning to Tevva vehicles.
That’s the equivalent of about a million cars taken off the road. We then also have the benefits of circular economy principles that we operate by as well.
That sounds like a brilliant goal. But some people out there are unconvinced, let’s say, that this electric vehicle revolution is going to be sustainable or commercially viable. How do you respond to those comments?
I think that we’ve proven really that you can find a commercial way of packaging up the electrification of a truck. I don’t think commercially it makes sense to have pure electric trucks. We don’t believe in it being commercially viable to have pure hydrogen trucks. So we play in the middle of the two and in doing so we operate in a unique space. Over time it is as cheap or as expensive, however you want to look at it, to run an electric truck as it is to run a diesel truck.
The starting cost of electric is higher but because you have much lower maintenance and servicing and you don’t have diesel costs, there is a point where they cross and it’s at that point that they create parity so that’s what we’re aiming for. I think we’ve found a really clever solution to a really big problem, and I guess the proof will be in the pudding we will see as we roll these things onto the road.
Are there any other companies in the mobility space that you are inspired by personally or Tevva is inspired by?
Look I’m going to ‘fangirl’ here a little bit and just say that I have huge, huge respect for what Flock are doing. I think Ed’s a great co-founder and I think you’re operating in a way that actually could eventually talk to the Tevva proposition.
I’m sure we should be exploring something that looks like a sort of price per mile insurance product that can sit across our fleet. I think what you’re doing is awesome and would love to continue talking to you about it.
Is there anything you would like to say to our listeners, to our watchers before we close this off?
Just that you can hopefully expect to see our trucks on the road next year.
We are trying to do our bit for the environment, we’re trying to do our bit for society, and we’re trying to apply the right pressure in the right places to make sure that we’re not just doing it on our own and we’re bringing everyone up with us.
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