Almost all of today’s medium- and heavy-duty trucks have a loading bay optimised chassis height of about 1000 to 1200mm with tail lifts for loading/unloading in settings without loading bays. This causes inefficiencies and safety concerns, especially in urban deliveries: On one side, tail lift operation is time-intensive – from needing to find spots with sufficient space for unfolding to lengthy lifting and lowering times – and accounts for up to 30% of time spent in a typical inner-city shift. From safety point of view, about a third of truck operation accidents in the UK occurring during loading and unloading including: collisions with pedestrians or cyclists, or slipping, falling goods and other incidents on and around the tail lift operation.

The consortium led by FR8 tackles these challenges delivering the first walk-in heavy-duty electric truck, independent from wheel size and just a step up at 360mm, while still providing full air-suspension to the rear axle. The solution is specifically designed customer use-cases of urban distribution and allows

• One-step entry to cabin and body – access possible from rear or kerbside

• Safe and fast loading/unloading of goods in complex and tight urban settings – for drivers, bicyclists, pedestrians, and all other traffic participants,

• Ample space between wheelbox for Euro pallet manoeuvring

At the heart of this innovation is FR8 e-DRIVE a patented game-changing driveline technology that enables the ultra-low floor without compromising performance. For operators, that translates into:

• Improved payload upto 1000 kg

• Improved Volume – upto 50%

• Improved productivity up to 30%.

This isn’t a retrofit. It’s a fresh rethink of what an electric truck could be designed from the ground up for modern urban logistics. The proof of concept demonstrator project is funded by The Department for Business and Trade, via the Advanced Propulsion Centre, supported by Innovate UK and delivered by the Niche Vehicle Network.

FR8 Technology is working in partnership with Electra Commercial Vehicles and FPW Axles displaying this groundbreaking vehicle architecture mated to the Daimler Econic cab at the Cenex Expo 2025.

“At it’s core this concept is about solving real problems for drivers, operators and communities they serve making vehicle safer, more efficient and easy to operate.  Over the next year, we’ll be developing a fully driveable demonstrator, ready to undergo testing with urban fleet operators in real conditions.” Ben Smith, Managing Director, Electra Commercial Vehicles.