Mercedes-Benz has announced it has completed the delivery of 10 eActros electric prime movers as the first phase of its ‘Innovation fleet’ testing electric trucks with customers.
Daimler has built two types on the test fleet with a gross vehicle weight of either 18 or 25 tonnes.
The eActros is powered by two electric motors with a total power output of 250 kW and powered by two battery packs with a 240 kWh capacity.
The German truck maker says the powertrain has two hree-phase asynchronous electric motors located close to the rear-axle wheel hubs. The motors are liquid-cooled and operate with a nominal voltage of 400 volts and each generate an output of 125 kW with maximum torque of 485 Nm each.
The gearing ratios mean this is converted to 11000 Nm each, resulting in driving performance on a par with a diesel truck with maximum permissible axle load standing at 11.5 tonnes.
The energy for a range of up to 200 km is provided by two lithium-ion batteries with an output of 240 kWh.
In term of capacity, it’s a significant powertrain, but it can only enable about 190 km of range in a vehicle of this size and weight.
Daimler says that it can take up to a 150 kW charge rate.
Mercedes-Benz has delivered the 10 eActros vehicles witht he aim of understanding how fleet operators could use the trucks and the 10 customers are putting them through their paces as part of their regular daily operations.
The tenth and final eActros was delivered to a Hamburg based food logistics specialist, which Daimler says provides the ideal urban environment for electric trucks.
“The eActros will deliver refrigerated goods every day to different customers in the inner city of Hamburg and we are looking forward to seeing how the electric truck performs with the high demands of refrigerated logistics,” said a Daimler trucks spokesperson.
Daimler plans to use the feedback from those customers to improve the electric truck for a second phase of testing and bring the vehicle to series production in 2021.
