Finnish mobility leaders, Ahola Group and Donut Lab today announce the launch of their joint venture, Cova Power, which is set to revolutionise sustainable road transport through innovative electrified smart trailers.
Cova Power will utilise Donut Lab’s innovative and critically acclaimed in-wheel motors and the accompanying Donut Platform software to convert smart trailers for the heavy goods transport sector. Initially rolled out across Ahola’s network, which operates throughout the home market of Finland and the Nordics, northern, central and eastern Europe, the smart trailer technology will be made commercially available globally from a production base in Estonia.
Cova Power trailers will be propelled by Donut Lab’s latest, most compact, lightweight and high-powered C-motor family, limiting the need for tractor unit pulling power, reducing emissions and costs of pulling heavy trailer loads. Studies from the University of Oulu in Finland suggest Cova Power smart trailers can save up to 54% in diesel consumption, and up to 30% in total energy consumption – translating to annualised multi-million-Euro cost savings (based on operator fleet sizes of 1,000 units or more).
Donut Lab founding partner and CEO Marko Lehtimäki said: “One of the advantages of the Cova Power technology is the relative engineering simplicity of the system. It can be retro-fitted to any appropriately-sized trailer and requires only modest per unit investment, making for quick cost amortisation.
“Fuel costs and emissions are two of the biggest challenges in freight transport, Cova Power addresses both, and with our solution entire existing fleets can be converted to low-emissions simply and at relatively low cost, bringing the benefits of electrified trailers to all operators. The sustainability, emissions, safety and overall efficiency gains that result from our new technology are game-changing for the industry.”
Ahola Group CEO, Ida Saavalainen, added: “Ahola has been researching, investing in and piloting technologies and solutions to address the perennial transport industry challenges of balancing profit, costs, efficiency and environmental factors for decades. These efforts have led us to reaching the EU2030-target for reducing emissions in road transport already in 2019.
We are actively continuing our sustainability efforts by pioneering new solutions of alternative fuels, electrified trucks and the first e-trailer, and now with Donut Lab as our partner we are delighted to bring the product of these decades of development to the market with Cova Power. We are extremely excited to present this revolutionary sustainability solution to the industry.”
Juho Könnö, Professor of Automotive and Work Machine Engineering at the University of Oulu, said: “Simulations carried out at the University of Oulu confirm the potential of Cova Power’s technology. In particular, fuel savings combined with low investment costs, as well as improved control and driving safety in challenging conditions, represent significant advances for the industry. This moves logistics toward a more efficient and environmentally friendly future.”
Many benefits of the Cova Power electrified trailer have been proven in testing, including:
- Enhanced vehicle performance, with driven axles offering greater control and safety in challenging environments and conditions, e.g. ice, wind, steep hills and more
- Exponential benefits of energy savings for the environment and for business
- Simple conversion of existing trailers
- Relative low cost and with the savings realised immediately, fast pay-back on the investment
Cova Power’s first working unit will debut as part of the Donut Lab brand showcase at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) Las Vegas in January 2026 (6-9).
