Former Volvo exec launches new company, intends to specialize in electrification

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Updated Aug 20, 2020

Trova commercial vehiclesPatrick Collignon, a former chief operating officer for Volvo Trucks North and South America, has launched Trova Commercial Vehicles (TrovaCV).

The new company claims it will offer customized engineering and manufacturing expertise for commercial vehicles, specifically fully electric trucks.

“This is an exciting time as the electric commercial vehicle market is being reshaped,” says Collignon, founder and CEO. “While technology and innovation have made it possible to convert fuel-powered commercial vehicles into electric vehicles, we haven’t seen a production model capable of producing the required volume of fully electric commercial vehicles to meet the demand.”

TrovaCV says it will focus on the engineering, design and production of fully electric commercial vehicles with the goal ofachieving mass production cost-effectively. TrovaCV will offer its industrial model and manufacturing capability to other commercial vehicle OEMs while developing its own fully electric vehicle.

“We believe that our engineering approach will offer OEMs the opportunity to build a higher volume of electric vehicles at a lower cost. At the same time, we will utilize our chassis design experience to achieve a complete EV build design from the ground up,” Collignon says.

TrovaCV is headquartered in Fairlawn, Va., and has received support from the Pulaski County Board of Supervisors, the Economic Development Authority and the Virginia Economic Development Partnership (VEDP).

“The technology and advanced manufacturing talents in the county and throughout the region continue to attract and support innovative companies like TrovaCV,” says Jonathan D. Sweet, county administrator, Pulaski County, Virginia. “We are excited to have TrovaCV as the newest member of our business community and we are committed to helping them grow their operations and achieving their goals here in Pulaski County.”

Collignon has more than 30 years international experience in the commercial vehicle industry with General Motors and the Volvo Group. Before launching TrovaCV, he served as senior vice president of operations for the Americas for Volvo Trucks, where he led a strategic initiative to develop and manufacture the new Mack medium-duty truck platform.

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