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Mercedes-Benz starts eActros trials

Trials will test suitability of electric truck for diesel vehicle replacement

 

Mercedes-Benz has started practical trials for its electric heavy-duty eActros trucks in Germany and Switzerland, with 20 customers in different sectors to use the vehicles in their fleets.

Each of the 20 customers involved will use an eActros in their business for a year, testing the vehicle’s suitability for day-to-day use in place of conventional diesel trucks.

The companies transport goods ranging from groceries to building supplies and raw materials, and the body variants range from refrigerated and box bodies to bulk goods and tarpaulin bodies.

Depending on their requirements, the customers will receive the two-axle 18-tonner or the three-axle 25-tonner for the work.

Among the companies is retail and logistics provider Hermes, which will test a 25-tonne vehicle on a hilly 50 km route 6-8 times per day, between Bad Hersfeld and the Hermes Logistics Centre in Friedewald, in the north of Germany’s Hesse state.


Daimler also debuted a new 730hp (544kW) battery-powered Freigntliner e-Cascadia  earlier this year. Check out our story here 


Hermes Germany head of central procurement Oliver Lanka says Hermes has set a goal of making its deliveries to urban centres in Germany emission-free by 2025.

“Alongside the use of battery-electric vans over the last mile, the gradual electrification of heavy-duty distribution and feeder transport is an important topic for us,” he says.

“Both the technological concept of the eActros and the end-to-end service approach plus the level of advice have impressed us.”

Mercedes-Benz Trucks head Stefan Buchner says the practical trials are an important milestone on the development of the vehicle, adding that company experts would be available to customers for feedback and assistance with the truck around the clock while the trials took place.

“We want to use the comprehensive findings to realise electric trucks that are economically comparable to diesel trucks for inner-city distribution from 2021,” he says.

“Our focus is on the operating range and cost of the batteries, and also on the infrastructure necessary for operations in our customers’ commercial fleets.”

 

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