EV revolution: UK vehicle manufacturers Tevva and Munro celebrate expansion milestones

Image: Munro Vehicles

Tevva is already manufacturing electric trucks in Tilbury, Essex, and is set to open a new manufacturing line in the London Thames Freeport area in the coming months after securing funding for the site late last year. Its overall ambition is to deliver 3,000 hydrogen and electric vehicles annually from 2023.

Building on this progress, the firm has this week opened an R&D base at the MIRA Technology Park in Nuneaton, Warwickshire. The new facility will enable Tevva to test aerodynamics and conduct more extensive crash testing. Tevva has also stated that intends to forge partnership with other engineering and research teams at the technology park and in the West Midlands more broadly.

Around 1,000 people will be hired in the West Midlands to support the new Tevva facility.

“Our trucks, both now and in the future, will undergo development at the MIRA Technology Park,” said Tevva’s chief engineer Ken Scott. “Having a base there makes perfect sense as having a physical presence there will help us develop our technologies more rapidly. It also means lower overall costs for our research and development. This move clearly demonstrates that Tevva is growing at a rate of knots.”

Munro Vehicles 

In related news, Glasgow-based electric 4×4 manufacturer Munro Vehicles has this week secured a £750,000 investment from London-based social impact investing organisation Elbow Beach Capital.

The funding will help Munro Vehicles to ready production lines for its first generation of vehicles by the end of 2022, as it prepares to deliver the first vehicles to customers in 2023. Funding will be used to hire new staff, increase outreach with customers and further work on future prototypes.

Munro Vehicles has completed off-road testing for its Mark 1 cars, confirming that they have a maximum range of some 280km and that they are capable of carrying 1,000kg. It is hoping that the vehicles will help businesses in sectors like farming and forestry to decarbonise their transport operations.

“We have a huge job ahead of us to take the Mark 1 to production but with Elbow Beach’s backing we feel empowered to make it happen,” said Munro’s chief executive Russ Peterson. “This investment is beneficial for the local economy and will allow us to source as many of our parts from within the UK as possible, cutting down on carbon emissions from shipping.”

Peterson also confirmed that Munro Vehicles is intending to raise further funds later this year to scale its production lines. It is aiming to manufacture up to 5,000 vehicles annually by 2030.

edie and E.ON’s EV masters series 

edie and E.ON have been working closely together in recent weeks to deliver a ‘masters series’ of content, all dedicated to helping organisations accelerate their transition to electric fleets. Readers interested in this topic are encouraged to access all aspects of the series at their convenience, including our free-to-download business guide report; 45-minute masterclass webinar and Net-Zero Business Podcast. The E.ON team have also penned an exclusive blog for edie, outlining why EV uptake is likely to continue rapidly into 2022 and beyond.