Mercedes-Benz eActros Electric Truck

At the IAA 2016, Mercedes-Benz Trucks was the first manufacturer in the world to show a heavy-duty electric truck. The technology leader has now moved on a step with its comprehensively refined eActros, which celebrated its world premiere in 2018: its deployment with customers began a short while ago. The first eActros of the so-called innovation fleet has been in practical trial for one customer since September already. The subsequent vehicle handovers from the first phase of the project will follow until the end of the year.

20 customers – all from various industries – are integrating the heavy-duty electric truck into their fleets. Each of these selected customers will put a near-series version of either the 18- or 25-tonne variant through its paces in real operations and will test the respective vehicle for its suitability for their daily field of work. The aim of Mercedes-Benz Trucks is to make emission-free and quiet driving a reality in cities from the year 2021, also with series heavy-duty trucks – and all of this as economically viable as with a diesel truck. The test series consists of two phases, each with ten customers and spanning a total of around two years. The development and testing of the heavy-duty electric truck in short-radius distribution operations is sponsored as part of the “Concept ELV²” project to varying degrees by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment (BMU) and the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi).

All test customers operate in short-radius distribution and use the eActros for tasks which would otherwise be carried out by conventional diesel vehicles – the customers cover a broad spectrum of different sectors and categories. The palette ranges from food to building and industrial materials. The bodies vary from refrigeration units to dry containers, silos or tarpaulin-covered units.