Mercedes-Benz Trucks has unveiled its first series production version of its battery-electric long-haul eActros in Germany, revealing the eActros 600 today as a world premiere to an international audience at an event south of Hamburg.
The manufacturer says this heavy-duty electric truck will define the new standard in road freight transport in terms of technology, sustainability, design and profitability for e-fleet operators.
Mercedes Benz is claiming a range of up 500 kilometres as from its high capacity 600 kilowatt hour battery, which is why it has been called the eActros 600. The company says it features a new, particularly efficient electric drive axle which has been developed in-house, which it says is one of the reasons that has enabled the e-truck to achieve the 500 km range without intermediate charging.
Mercedes says says that this means that the truck will be able to travel significantly more than 1,000 kilometres per day. with intermediate charging during the prescribed driver breaks without megawatt-charging.
the company claims that around 60 per cent of long-distance journeys of Mercedes-Benz Trucks customers in Europe are less than 500 kilometres.
In addition to CCS charging with up to 400 kW, Benz says the eActros 600 will later also enable megawatt charging (MCS).
The eActros 600 has been designed for a GCM of up to 44 tonnes and with a standard European semitrailer, it will have a payload of around 22 tons in the EU.
The eActros 600 visually is fundamentally a new design with clear lines and an aero shape.
Mercedes says the electric truck is intended to set new standards replacing the majority of diesel trucks on important long-haul transport segments over the long term. T
The company says that sales of the electric truck will start in Europe this year with the start of series production planned for the end of 2024. with prime mover rigid variants of the eActros 600 from market launch.
There is currently a fleet of around fifty prototype eActro 600s is being built, some of which Benz says are set to be put into practical testing with customers .
CEO of Mercedes-Benz Trucks, Karin Rådström, said the eActros 600 stands for the transformation of road freight transport towards CO2-neutrality like no other truck with a three-pointed star.
“It is characterized by highly innovative drive technology that can offer our customers particularly high energy efficiency and thus profitability. This makes entry into e-mobility even more attractive for fleet operators,” Rådström said,
The company claims the CO2 footprint of the eActros 600 depends heavily on the electricity mix used for driving operations and with the current European energy mix, Benz claims the eActros 600 achieves CO2 savings of around 40 per cent compared to a comparable diesel Actros and, with fully renewable energies, of more than 80 per cent over the entire product life cycle of ten years from raw material extraction.
This corresponds to savings of around 370 or 775 tons of CO2 Mercedes claims, and as a result says the eActros 600 can compensate for the higher CO2 footprint ex works due to its batteries within its second or first year of operation in long-haul transport.
Benz says the eActros 600 has three battery packs, each with 207 kWh with an installed total capacity of 621 kWh using lithium iron phosphate cell technology (LFP) with a long service life.
Mercedes-Benz Trucks development engineers at have apparently designed the eActros 600 to meet the same durability requirements as a comparable conventional heavy-duty long-haul Actros.
Mercedes says that means up to 1.2 million kilometres across ten years of operation. and that at this point the battery state of health should still be over 80 per cent.
The new Mercedes developed 800-volt electric axle features two electric motors and a four-speed transmission has been designed specifically for use in heavy-duty long-haul transport. The company says the electric motors generate a continuous output of 400 kW, and a peak output of 600 kW, which it says ensures powerful acceleration, high driving comfort and high driving dynamics adding that the full motor output is available most of the time with almost no interruption in torque.
Mercedes-Benz has developed two power take-offs for the eActros 600, with an electric-mechanical power take-off making it possible to operate hydraulic or mechanical work equipment such as tipping, sliding floor or silo semitrailers. It also has an electric DC or AC power take-off with an inverter that converts the direct current from the high-voltage network into alternating current, providing solutions for refrigerated bodies or refrigerated semitrailers to operate.
Mercedes says that depending on the version, the various power take-off applications can cover a power range from 22 to 90 kW, allowing the system to cover all common uses in long-distance and distribution transport.
The company says the eActros 600 will be produced on the existing assembly line in parallel to and alongside diesel trucks at the Mercedes-Benz Trucks plant at Wörth in Germany .
The electric drive components will be produced at Mercedesplants in Mannheim, Gaggenau and Kassel., while the company says the three locations are also undergoing a transformation from diesel technology to competence centres for emission-free transport.
Mercedes-Benz revealed the new eActros 600 at a new facility in Hamburg called the Break Autohof . The company says this new facility represents the future of service along highways.
The Break Autohof is a state-of-the-art truck service centre with a free flow parking system with multi-energy stations, a three-star hotel, dining and shopping options as well as co-working, entertainment, in-house brewery and lounge areas with services including Click & Collect and Order@Table which are cloud-based and connected.
The facility is designed with the highest level of sustainability through low impact wooden modules for the hotel, its own Solar power generation system and in the medium term, its own hydrogen production. The Break Autohof Hamburg is the first of many planned to rolled out along Germany’s highway network.
