Phil Henrick, Tevva Sales and Aftersales Director on the Future of Clean Freight
Following the launch of the new Tevva Truck, the first 7.5-tonne British electric truck designed for mass production in the UK, we sat down with Phil Henrick, Business Development Director at Tevva, to discuss the recent launch, and what else is in store for Tevva’s future.
With over 21+ years of experience with OEMs, leasing companies and rental companies in developing and implementing innovative sales and market growth strategies for the motor industry, Phil was initially drawn to Tevva given its mission to crack the conundrum of zero emission freight.
“Our focus really is on delivering a truck that can do the job at comparable costs with zero emissions,” explains Phil.
Phil describes the momentum behind clean transport, and how it has expanded far past passenger vehicles.
“The UK Government now has taken steps to expand from passenger cars and light commercial vehicles, supporting the transition of heavy goods vehicles.”
Tevva’s revolutionary technology is poised to meet this important change, as well as inspire other companies to adopt similar infrastructure. One of Tevva’s goals is to help expand the industry-wide use of hydrogen fuel cells as a range-extension technology.
“It’s really encouraging the amount of global energy companies out there who are taking hydrogen as a fuel very seriously,” notes Phil.
It is a pivotal moment for Tevva. Our newly-launched trucks will be manufactured in our new facility in close proximity to London. This expansion will ultimately lead to the creation of hundreds of career opportunities and propel Britain’s electric freight evolution.
“The future for Tevva is very exciting because we have real solutions to today’s and future problems. And we recognise that these solutions should not come at increased cost: whether it be a pure BEV operating in an urban environment, or a range-extended truck with a longer duty cycle, our trucks will be more than competitive from a Total Cost of Ownership point of view.”
As Tevva opened up for reservations on launch day, we asked Phil about and how the market is responding to the availability of Tevva’s trucks.
Phil explained that Tevva’s products appeal both to smaller and larger fleets alike, mainly down to the total cost of ownership which Tevva has been able to demonstrate through the extensive in-fleet service mileage its’ vehicles have achieved to date. The vehicles are also designed to replace an equivalent diesel like-for-like, meaning minimal impact on payload or range when compared to an equivalent diesel.
When we asked about Tevva’s engagement with larger logistics operators, Phil described the innovative Development Partner Strategy that has enabled Tevva to create a hand in hand development process to enable early and detailed learnings for fleets as they plan for full electrification.
One interesting element of this programme, which really appeals to fleets is the initial learning phase — where capturing real data on the current duty cycles, speeds, fuels and driving capabilities Tevva can then model the exact type of zero emission vehicle configuration suitable.
Phil commented, “the development partner strategy is a first in the industry, customers like it because they understand by partnering with Tevva and agreeing to share duty cycle data, they get to an early viewing and drive of prototype product matched to their actual day-to-day needs and have the chance to influence specification and future product developments.”
Find out more here: www.tevva.com/reservations
Connect with Phil on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/philhenrick/
