This year, Mercedes-Benz Trucks is bringing the world´s first all-electric heavy-duty truck to market in a small series.
Following the presentation of the Urban eTruck with 25 t perm. GVW and a range of up to 200 km (124 miles) at the International Commercial Vehicle Show in 2016, the first vehicles will be delivered to customers this year.
The Urban eTruck is based on a three-axle short-radius distribution truck, with the entire conventional drivetrain replaced by an electrically driven rear axle with electric motors directly adjacent to the wheel hubs. Maximum output is 2 x 125 kW. The power is supplied by a battery pack consisting of three modules of lithium-ion batteries with a total capacity of 212 kWh.
The Urban eTruck is connected to the charging station using the Combined Charging System (CCS) Type 2 connector. With a charging power of 100 kW, the electric truck can be fully recharged within three hours.
In order to be able to depict the various application possibilities, 18- and 25-tonne models will be equipped with a refrigerated body, as a dry box body and as a platform vehicle. Together with a special charger which takes into account the increased demands on a truck, the vehicles will be handed over to the customers to use for a period of twelve months and supported by Mercedes-Benz Trucks road testing department. During this time the use profiles and areas of application will be recorded and the knowledge gained and expectations compared.
The Urban eTruck is part of a comprehensive electric initiative from Daimler Trucks. The light-duty electric truck Fuso eCanter will be in use in a global small series in 2017. Around 150 vehicles will be handed over to selected customers in Europe, Japan and the USA. Daimler Trucks is thus covering a wide application portfolio of electric trucks all over the world.
Better air quality, a lower noise level and entry restrictions are now important catchwords in the big metropolises of the world. It will be necessary to transport goods in urban environments for increasing numbers of people – and with the lowest possible emissions and noise. Therefore in the future all-electric trucks will take care of supplying people in many conurbations with groceries or other goods needed on a daily basis.
The rapid technical development is supporting this trend: Daimler Trucks is expecting the costs for the batteries of an all-electric truck to fall by a factor of 2.5 from 1997 to 2025 – from 500 euros/kWh to 200 euros/kWh. At the same time the energy density of the available batteries in this period will rise by the same factor from 80 Wh/kg to 200 Wh/kg.
