Following its market launch of eActros for heavy-duty distribution transport in 2021, Mercedes-Benz Trucks is expanding its lineup of battery-electric trucks models this year and in the coming years.

The long-haul trucking segment is an important focus for Mercedes-Benz, in which it will address with eActros Longhaul.  The company’s new electrified offering features a range of around 500 kilometers on one battery charge, and is scheduled to begin production in 2024.

The first prototypes of the 40-ton truck are currently undergoing internal tests and Mercedes-Benz Trucks’ engineers are planning to start trials of the e-truck on public roads this year.

What kind of charging will eActros Longhaul require? 

eActros LongHaul will be capable high-performance “megawatt charging”. Megawatt Charging System (MCS) offers fast-charging capability for large battery packs in 15-20 minutes, which requires a power output of 1 MW or more. The current target for MCS is 3.75 MW. 

A MCS charger with 3.75 MW output can charge a battery pack to 62.5 kWh in 1 minute, to over 312kWh in 5 minutes and between 937-1,250 kWh in 15-20 minutes.

National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) notes that at 3.75 MW, a single vehicle would use the equivalent power needed for 3,200 U.S. homes. MCS is capable of transferring the daily energy consumption of a typical home in about 28 seconds.

Mercedes-Benz Trucks advancing toward carbon neutral trucking and e-mobility

Mercedes-Benz Trucks is also preparing additional variants of the eActros with the eActros 300,  eActros 400, and eEconic for municipal use. Mercedes-Benz Trucks’ goal is to increase the share of locally CO2-neutral new vehicles in Europe to more than 50 percent by 2030.

The company will introduce truck customers from all over Europe to e-mobility by organizing events lasting several weeks around its Wörth, Germany site starting in early June.

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.

Karin Rådström, CEO Mercedes-Benz Trucks said, “The tremendous interest in our 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.”

Engaging with partners for charging infrastructure 

For truck in-depot charging, Mercedes-Benz Trucks is working together with Siemens Smart Infrastructure, ENGIE and EVBox Group. For long-distance transport public EV charging, Daimler Truck, TRATON GROUP and the Volvo Group have signed a binding agreement to establish a joint venture. This will provide for the development and operation of a public, high-performance charging network for battery-electric heavy-duty long-haul trucks and buses across Europe. The charging network established through the joint venture will be available to fleet operators in Europe regardless of brand.

Say hello to HoLa charging for long-haul truck transport

The goal of the “High-Performance Charging in Long-Haul Truck Transport” (HoLa) project, with the participation of Daimler Truck and under the aegis of the German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA), is to plan, erect and operate a select high-performance charging infrastructure for battery-electric long-haul truck transport. 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. 

Mercedes-Benz eEconic at IFAT 

The battery-electric eEconic for municipal made its trade show premiere on May 30 at IFAT, the world’s leading trade show for water, sewage, waste and raw materials management, in Munich.

The eEconic scores particularly well in urban applications thanks to its lower noise emissions. The eEconic’s vehicle architecture benefits from Daimler Truck’s global platform strategy: The powertrain of the low-floor truck is based on the Mercedes-Benz eActros.

FES Frankfurter Entsorgung- (Waste Management) and Service GmbH has already been using prototype eEconic trucks in Frankfurt am Main for municipal waste collection since May.

Ultimate goal: CO2-neutral transport on the road by 2050

Daimler Truck’s ambition is to only offer new vehicles in Europe, Japan, and North America that are CO2-neutral in operation by 2039. The two battery-electric models Mercedes-Benz eCitaro and Mercedes-Benz eActros have been in production since 2018 and 2021 respectively. The Mercedes-Benz eEconic, the FUSO eCanter and the Freightliner eCascadia will follow later this year, and additional locally CO2-neutral vehicles are already planned.

In the second half of this decade, the company plans to further supplement its range of vehicles with vehicles powered by hydrogen-based fuel cells. Mercedes-Benz trucks ultimate goal is to have completely CO2-neutral transportation on roads by 2050.