Daimler Truck, one of the world’s largest manufacturers of commercial vehicles, presented its path to sustainable transport on Sunday, ahead of the IAA Transportation 2024 fair in Hanover. The company’s focus was on the topics of decarbonization and digitalization. Daimler Truck is showing the battery-powered Mercedes-Benz eActros 600 electric truck as its most important product at this show. With its new e-feather, the manufacturer intends to decarbonize long-haul transport, which is responsible for two-thirds, and therefore for the largest part, of CO2 emissions in truck traffic.
A high battery capacity of more than 600 kilowatt hours and a new, particularly efficient electric drive axle developed in-house enable the eActros 600 to achieve a range of 500 kilometers without recharging. This range is achieved under very realistic conditions that reflect standard use with a 40 tonne tractor unit mass; this figure can also be significantly exceeded depending on the driving style and the route involved. The eActros 600 will be able to travel much further than 1,000 kilometers per day. This is made possible by topping up during statutory driver breaks – even without megawatt charging – provided charging facilities are available.
This summer, two pre-series production prototypes took part in a nearly seven-week test to demonstrate the operational performance of the eActros 600, traveling more than 15,000 kilometers through 22 European countries. It was the most extensive test in the history of Mercedes-Benz trucks. Each of the two e-trucks traveled with a trailer mass of 40 tonnes and exclusively used public charging stations. During the entire tour, the vehicles successfully demonstrated the high energy efficiency of the eActros 600 model: during the entire trip, the prototype equipped with special consumption measurement equipment managed to achieve an average consumption of 103 kilowatt hours per 100 kilometers. Calculating the energy content of diesel, this would translate into a consumption of about 10 liters per 100 kilometers, which would be impossible to achieve with a conventionally powered truck. On the tour’s numerous daily stages, it would even theoretically be possible to achieve a range of more than 600 kilometers without recharging. On average, it was possible to cover about 25 percent of the consumed energy of the eActros 600 with recovered energy.
Depending on the route, topography and temperature, the daily consumption ranged between 85 kilowatt hours per 100 kilometers – during the descent from Madrid to Bilbao (about 360 kilometers) in very good road and weather conditions – and 140 kilowatt hours per 100 kilometers from Alta to North Cape (about 240 kilometers) with the lowest temperature of 7 degrees Celsius, and where part of the road was unpaved. During the trip, about 30 journalists from 20 European countries, mostly behind the wheel, tested the operational performance of the second prototype – not only in terms of consumption, but also, for example, in terms of driving dynamics. Even with this vehicle, consumption was only about 6 percent higher on average. This means that the stated range of 500 kilometers on a single charge of the battery proved to be a realistic planning factor during the trip.
Daimler Truck marks the start of serial production of the eActros 600 model at the end of November at the Mercedes-Benz Vert plant. The first eActros 600 customer vehicles should be produced and registered before the end of 2024. Also, the Daimler Truck plants in Mannheim, Kassel and Gagenau play an important role. They supply the components required for the battery-electric drive of the eActros 600, such as the electric axle, transmission components and the front box, which combines numerous high-voltage and low-voltage components and is located in the former installation space of the internal combustion engine.
During the “Daimler Truck Media Night” event in Hanover, the eActros 600 went on an overnight round trip to Berlin and back. First, to demonstrate live its usability in everyday life and, second, to send a message to political decision-makers not only in Berlin, but also in Brussels: Daimler Trucks with zero emissions are ready, now the charging infrastructure must follow.
Since the start of sales at the end of last year, Daimler Truck has already recorded 2,000 orders for the eActros 600, and there are letters of intent.
To make e-mobility simple and profitable for customers, in addition to purchasing electric trucks, Daimler Truck is launching a new TruckCharge brand in Europe to coincide with the start of the IAA. This name combines the company’s offer related to e-infrastructure and electric truck charging, that is, consulting and infrastructure, as well as the operation of electrified depots for transport and industrial companies. Part of the offering includes Fleetboard Charge Management, which provides a holistic overview of all interactions between electric trucks in the fleet and the company’s own charging stations, the Charging Card, which enables cashless charging on the go, and financing of charging infrastructures.
The IAA stand of Mercedes-Benz Trucks and FUSO is located in hall 19/20. Driving opportunities for some of the products start at the booth, and some of the driving will take place in the open area of the fair and on public roads. Further IAA highlights presented by Daimler Truck include the FUSO Next Generation eCanter as a fully electric waste collection vehicle, the Mercedes-Benz GenH2 truck, the new Mercedes-Benz Actros L with improved aerodynamics making its show premiere, the new electric Mercedes-Benz eCitaro K a city bus with a shorter wheelbase that is a world premiere and the new Mercedes-Benz Tourismo Safety Coach as a public premiere. Another focal point of the Daimler Truck Media Night was the expected quantum leap when it comes to digitization – key word: “software-defined vehicle” – which will be the next technological revolution for the manufacturer.
Source: www.magazinauto.com
