Launched as a study at the IAA Commercial Vehicles 2016, the truck now launches as a test
(Photo: Mercedes-Benz)
Tons heavy, but whisper-quiet: The heavy freight traffic is now being electrified, the first small series of electric trucks in everyday use go on the roads in Germany and Austria in the coming year. A typical field of application of electric trucks is initially the inner-city, heavy distribution traffic, for example, the supermarket supply.
It can be done so quietly and locally emission-free. The “urban e-truck” from Mercedes, which was presented as a study at the IAA 2016, starts here as a test. The 25-tonne can load 12.8 tonnes and travels with a battery capacity of 212 kWh up to 200 kilometers far purely electrically – which is usually sufficient for a day tour in the distribution traffic.
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In 2018, practical testing will begin, with a special fleet of electric trucks being used by Mercedes customers on the road in everyday use. The manufacturer hopes that valuable practical experience with the new technology – for example, logistics processes and operating costs. Mass production is planned for 2020. The findings will eventually lead to newly designed business models for all-electric trucks for inner-city heavy distribution traffic.
In the first quarter of 2018, the competition will bring an electric truck fleet onto the road. Together with nine Austrian logistics providers, truck manufacturers are testing it MAN the use of electric distribution trucks in everyday life. The vehicles of the TGM series have a 250 kW electric motor and, with an electric range of 200 kilometers, are also used in city logistics. MAN has announced that from the end of 2018 on a small series of other e-trucks will launch, a large-scale production is scheduled for 2021.
In the 7.5-ton segment, Daimler subsidiary Fuso is now bringing a new teammate
The eCanter has a range of 100 to 120 kilometers
(Photo: Daimler)
Scania pursues another, no less exciting approach: The Swedish manufacturer and VWSubsidiary uses modified vices in motorway overhead line tests. In Sweden The trucks with pantographs on the roof have been on the road since 2016.
From next year, trolleybuses will also be driving in real traffic in Germany: on a section of Autobahn 1 in Schleswig-Holstein, between Reinfeld and Lübeck, which is about six kilometers long. The Federal Environment Ministry is funding the pilot project with around 14 million euros. Start of construction of the necessary infrastructure is in March, completion by the end of 2018.
The DHL street scooter in action
Pure battery-electric light commercial vehicles, for example, are already on their way in parcel delivery at Post subsidiary DHL
(Photo: StreetScooter / DHL)
Overhead lines could be an option for long-haul electrification that has previously been a challenge for the e-truck because of too heavy batteries that would need to be carried along. In the overhead contact line concept, trucks not only use the electricity from the overhead contact line for the electric drive, but also charge their battery at the same time. Therefore, according to the ministry, it is sufficient to electrify individual sections of the motorway, between which they can then be driven with electricity from the battery. Trucks of various freight forwarders participate in the project.
Pure battery-electric light commercial vehicles, for example, are already in use at the Post subsidiary DHL in the parcel delivery and are very present in the urban street scene. For 2018, the manufacturer of the electric parcel truck Streetscooter has announced the increase in production capacity to 20,000 units per year and takes to a new plant in North Rhine-Westphalia in operation.
An exciting approach followed the VW subsidiary Scania:
The Swedish manufacturer uses modified vices in highway overhead line tests
(Photo: Scania)
In the segment of 7.5-tonner brings Daimler– daughter Fuso now a new player: The eCanter has a range of 100 to 120 kilometers and comes in small series next to the US and Japan in Europe on the market. From 2019 it should be produced in mass production.