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By John Millar
Posted 8 months ago
INSTITUTE OF THE MOTOR INDUSTRY (IMI) GETS BEHIND THE SCENES AT TEVVA
Alex Goy from IMI MotorPro visits Ken Scott, Tevva MD to find out about our technology development, product range, customer deployment, aftersales and EV skills development.
As we conclude our 10 year anniversary, we got the opportunity to tell our story through the eyes of the IMI and their MotorPro Technical Walkaround campaign. Here Ken Scott, Tevva’s MD gives a detailed rundown of Tevva’s journey so far as we scale into deployment. Thank you to the IMI and Alex for the opportunity to give a great round-up of the technology evolution and the comprehensive aftersales, servicing, and field support we have in place.
So what sets Tevva apart?
Following the delivery of the first trucks to UPS in 2019, Tevva’s technology development has gone from strength to strength, building on this first-generation technology we are now more than 450,000kms into the on-road development of the third generation 7.5t battery electric trucks available today.
In parallel Tevva is developing a hydrogen fuel cell version. Heading towards a 19t version, the hydrogen onboard will provide the top-up range needed to supplement the on-board battery's power.
Along the way we have collaborated with some of the biggest in the industry, including automotive tier-one suppliers like ZF on our advanced electronic braking system (AEBS) which resulted in cutting-edge braking system onboard.
We focus all of our engineering effort on providing a maximum energy-efficient, hard-working commercial vehicle. Let's face it a truck is operated way differently to a car – often working double or triple eight-hour shifts. Finding the right approach for the customer to optimise maximum payload maximum range and minimising upfront costs.
How about vehicle maintenance and skilled technicians?
One of the major benefits of electric trucks versus diesel, is the massive reduction in the number of moving parts, meaning the vehicles are much easier to look after in the field. That said – providing the right overall support package is our absolute responsibility and we are delighted to be working with Alltruck – with their nationwide coverage of roadside assistance, maintenance, documentation service and more.
PDI service checks and service programme will be handled by Alltruck in the UK on all of our in-service vehicles ensuring vehicle uptimes and overall health.
Of course the IMI level 3 training is key and we are working with Alltruck to continually upskill their technicians, and of course ensuring that all our technicians are high-voltage trained.
Field support engineers from Tevva in addition to Alltruck enable us to have direct contact with vehicles once in deployment and to enable us to refine our advanced diagnostics package for future models.
A robust approach to repair and maintenance
Ken sums up very succinctly the 4-tiers of support we have in place:
- Alltruck are our chosen partner for vehicle maintenance, repair and regular PDI checks. They also offer a road side recovery service, complemented by our remote diagnostics.
- Parts replacement programme – even though there are drastically less moving parts than on a diesel equivalent, a filter on the air compressor, is about the only regular part needing attention during a service programme.
- IMI high voltage training for all vehicle technicians at Tevva, and at All Truck , in fact it is imperative that anyone working on the truck, work’s safely.
- Our field engineers add an additional layer of support, providing continual learning and improvement of our remote diagnostics.