Germany’s DB Schenker announced the addition of 1500 Electric trucks to its fleet. The company will order the electric trucks from startup Volta Trucks to transport goods from European terminals into city centres and urban areas.

Prototype Electric trucks are to be used by DB Schenker in the spring and summer of 2022 in distribution operations, the findings from which will be used in the production of 1,470 electric trucks. Those trucks will be made at a former MAN truck plant in Austria that was taken over by Steyr Automotive. The electric trucks will operate at 10 DB Schenker locations in five countries.

Volta Trucks, plans to start the production of the Volta Zero, a 16-tonne electric truck, in 2022. Bans on fossil-fuel commercial vehicles will take effect in some European cities over the next few years, putting pressure on logistics providers to find zero-emission alternatives.

DB Schenker has a presence in 130 countries and around 74,200 employees. The latest order brings Volta Trucks’ order book to around 4,500 electric trucks. It previous biggest public order was for 1,000 trucks, from French refrigerated truck firm Petit Forestier.