Mercedes-Benz Trucks in Europe has announced it is systematically pressing ahead with the introduction of additional battery-electric models this year and in coming years, following the market launch of the eActros for heavy-duty distribution transport in 2021.
The company has announced its eActros LongHaul, is scheduled to be ready for series production in 2024 and will come with a range of around 500 kilometres on one battery charge and aimed at the important long-haul segment.
The LongHual is expected to have a GVM of around 36 tonnes and Benz says the first protptype trucks are already undergoing internal tests and Mercedes-Benz engineers are planning to start trials of the e-truck on public roads later this year.
It says that the eActros LongHaul will enable its so-called high-performance “megawatt charging”.
Mercedes is also preparing additional variants of the eActros specifically the eActros 300 and eActros 400 and, the eEconic wlectric waste truck is scheduled to roll off the production line as early as July, at its Wörth plant, which will make it the second all-electric series production Benz truck.
Mercedes-Benz says its goal is to increase the share of locally CO2-neutral new vehicles in Europe to more than 50 per cent by 2030.
The manufacturer says it is organising an event lasting several weeks around the Wörth site starting in early June to further introduce truck customers from all over Europe to e-mobility.
Experts from Mercedes-Benz Trucks will inform around 1,000 participants on the central aspects of e-mobility, from infrastructure and services to electric models.
In addition, customers will have the opportunity to drive the eActros 300 on demanding routes and with realistic payloads.
CEO Mercedes-Benz Trucks Karin Rådström, said that the tremendous interest in its eActros driving event in Wörth is further proof of the popularity e-mobility is already gaining with customers.
“Customers are thus sending a strong signal to all stakeholders to combine efforts and quickly put more and more electric trucks on the road, expand the charging infrastructure and create cost parity,” said Karin Rådström.
Mercedes-says it is also working together with Siemens Smart Infrastructure, ENGIE and EVBox Group on depot charging systems.
In terms of public charging for long-distance transport, Daimler Truck, along with its rivals the VW Traton Group along with the Volvo Group have signed a binding agreement to establish a joint venture.
They say this will provide for the development and operation of a public, high-performance charging network for battery-electric heavy-duty long-haul trucks and coaches across Europe. They say the charging network of the three corporations will be available to fleet operators in Europe regardless of brand.
Under the aegis of the German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA), the goal of the “High-Performance Charging in Long-Haul Truck Transport” (HoLa) project, is to plan, erect and operate a select high-performance charging infrastructure for battery-electric long-haul truck transport, said Daimler.
Two high-performance charging points with the Megawatt Charging System (MCS) are to be erected at each of four locations in Germany and tested in real-world applications. Various other consortium partners from industry and research are involved in the project.
The battery-electric eEconic waste truck will mark its trade show premiere in Europe today, (30 May) at IFAT in Munich, which is the world’s leading trade show for water, sewage, waste and raw materials management.
The eEconic is said to score particularly well in urban applications in the early morning hours thanks to its lower noise emissions.
Benz says the eEconic’s vehicle architecture benefits from Daimler’s global platform strategy with the powertrain of the low-floor truck based on the Mercedes-Benz eActros, which has been in series production at the Wörth plant since October 2021 and has been in service since earlier this month, with FES Frankfurter Entsorgung Waste Management for municipal waste collection.
Mercedes-Benz has also announced it has addressed some of the early critiscism of its revolutionary MirrorCam and has been equipping the eActros with an enhanced second-generation version since last month (April), with improvements in its display and safety in particular.
Externally, the camera arms on both sides have been shortened by ten centimetres each, with the advantage of the new longer arms being that drivers find it easier for reversing compared with the first-generation MirrorCams, apparently making the perspective of the screen displays more similar to that of familiar glass mirrors.
Daimler says its ambition is to offer only ”tank-to-wheel” CO2-neutral new vehicles in Europe, Japan, and North America by 2039.
The two battery-electric models, the Mercedes-Benz eCitaro bus and eActros trucks have been rolling off its assembly line in series production since 2018 and 2021 respectively.
The Mercedes-Benz eEconic, the Fuso eCanter as well as the Freightliner eCascadia followed this year, and the company says additional CO2-neutral vehicles are also planned.
In the second half of this decade, the company says it plans to further supplement its range of vehicles with series-produced vehicles powered by hydrogen-based fuel cells with CO2-neutral transportation on the road by 2050 being the company’s ultimate goal.
