Electric start-up Volta Trucks has filed for bankruptcy putting around 600 UK jobs at risk.
The Swedish firm put its distinctive 16-tonne electric truck into production in April, but has run into difficulties after its battery supplier, Proterra, filed for for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy in the US in August, reported the Financial Times.
While headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden, where the firm has filed for bankruptcy, Volta Trucks has most of its business and engineering operations in the UK, with bases in Warwick, Coventry and Reading.
In June 2023, it also launched its first ‘service hub’ in Tottenham, north London, with London Mayor Sadiq Khan opening the site that was due to service the firm’s electric HGVs.
The company’s board today (Oct 17) confirmed it had filed for bankruptcy in Sweden and that it will ‘shortly file for administration in England’.
It has around 600 employees in the UK.
The firm said it had ‘faced challenges along the way’, with Proterra filing for bankruptcy had a ‘significant impact’ on its manufacturing plans and reducing planned volumes.
A Volta statement said: ‘The uncertainty with our battery supplier also negatively affected our ability to raise sufficient capital in an already challenging capital-raising environment for electric vehicle players.
‘With deep and sincere regret, the board has therefore taken the difficult decision to take steps to file for bankruptcy proceedings in Sweden.
‘The main trading entity of the group, Volta Trucks Limited, will shortly file for administration in England.’
First customer deliveries of Volta’s HGVs were expected in Sweden in 2023.
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