Volta Trucks, the leading innovative all-electric truck manufacturer and service provider, has officially achieved a five-star rating under the Direct Vision Standard.
This standard measures and evaluates the volumetric representation of the space around the cab of a heavy commercial vehicle that the driver can see in the front and side areas on both the driver’s and passenger’s sides.
The volume of this space can then be calculated to provide an assessment of the driver’s direct visibility performance. With an industry-leading volumetric score of 32.82m3, Volta Zero’s rating is the highest ever achieved by any vehicle tested using this methodology and is 50% higher than the result of the highest scoring tested vehicle. neighbor of 22 m3.
The Direct Vision Standard (DVS) is an evaluation scheme intended for heavy vehicles wishing to enter and circulate in London and was introduced in 2021 in order to establish the minimum vision requirements that drivers of industrial vehicles weighing more than 12 tonnes must have to be able to enter and circulate in the English capital. This assessment standard was developed following decades of research conducted by Dr Steve Summerskill of Loughborough University in the UK and commissioned by Transport for London (TfL).
In addition to the UK, following the adoption of the new EU regulation on general vehicle safety, 29 countries, including all EU Member States, will start using a UNECE standard on direct visibility on new trucks (and on all existing trucks from 2029), which ensures that vehicles operating in city centers offer the driver a good view.
In Italy there are cities, such as Milan, which are already adopting similar measures aimed at preventing and limiting the number of accidents involving heavy vehicles circulating in the urban area. In the Lombard capital, a resolution was recently approved which introduces severe restrictions on circulation in area B (which coincides with a large part of the city territory) for vehicles weighing over 3.5 tonnes that are not equipped with blind spot mirror sensors, which detect the presence of pedestrians and cyclists near the front of the vehicle or on the side of the curb and emit a warning signal.
The provision will enter into force on 1 October next and provides for exemptions until 31 December 2024 for trucks whose owners are in possession of a contract for the purchase of a blind spot detection system.