Nick Carey

LONDON, (Reuters) – British startup Tevva announced Tuesday that it has raised $57 Million in its most recent funding round. This will allow Tevva to increase production at its London facility and to deliver the first electric trucks to its customers by 2022.

Tevva raised $90 Million.

British truckmaker will offer two zero-emission, 7.5 tonnes (7.500 kg) models to its customers. A battery electric model has 160 mile range (257 km), and an electrical truck that can have a small hydrogen reserve fuel cell which increases the range to 310.

Asher Bennett (Tevva chief executive) stated that the backup hydrogen fuel cells would give customers greater flexibility in case their trucks have to travel longer distances.

Tevva is able to provide hydrogen fuelling infrastructure as a service for customers, even though it’s still very infancy.

Bennett said to Reuters that most customers would choose the reserve hydrogen fuel-cell because it offers a greater range than a pure electric one.

He stated that he understood the trucking industry and how it operates. However, the high risk involved in exceeding the limit of the truck’s range is too much for most companies.

Truck fleets face imminent bans on fossil fuel vehicles and are now looking at zero emission options for delivering goods to consumers and businesses.

UPS is the largest parcel delivery service in the world and currently uses 15 Tevva test trucks.

Tevva hopes to manufacture several hundred trucks by the 2022 end and plans on producing 3,000 trucks each year by 2023.

Bennett explained that Tevva had planned to set up a few small factories near customers to manufacture trucks. He said Tevva will be looking at other sites in North America once its London plant has reached scale.