The E-Mobility Group Daimler Trucks & Buses launches a holistic ecosystem for truck customers for the best possible entry into electric transportation logistics. This includes a comprehensive range of consulting services and the installation of suitable charging infrastructure.
The modular range includes not only personal and individual consulting, but also digital applications that make it easier to get started with e-mobility.
In a first step, the focus will be on the markets of Europe, North America and Japan. The consulting services are incrementally implemented with first customers.
Gesa Reimelt, Head of E-Mobility Group Daimler Trucks & Buses: “As pioneers of e-mobility, our battery-electric trucks are already undergoing extensive practical trials around the world. Thanks to the close exchange with our customers, we understood early on the need to think far beyond the e-vehicle. That is why we offer an ecosystem tailored to the use case and needs of customers, including consulting and charging infrastructure solutions. This is how we want to provide our customers with the ideal entry into e-mobility.”
“eTruck Ready” app creates transparency for entry into e-mobility
At the start of the commercial vehicle IAA year 2020, Daimler Trucks will offer a free application with the “eTruck Ready” app, with which customers can determine, which operating profiles and routes are suitable for an e-truck. The smartphone app records the driving routes of a conventional vehicle: It captures speed, acceleration and altitude profile along the route. Important parameters such as the payload and the outside temperature can be added afterwards by fleet managers in an individual web portal. From this data, the program generates the respective range and expected power consumption of a suitable electric truck from the Daimler portfolio. This creates a realistic usage profile for customers.
Individual consulting: route, charging infrastructure and optimization of operations
The data calculated by the app form the basis for the customer consulting conducted by the expert team of the E-Mobility Group. The tailored consulting services include, for example, indications of possible route optimization for electric trucks and suitable charging infrastructure. If required, the experts can create an individual operating cost analysis and take into account, among other things, public funding opportunities. This way, customers can make a fact-based decision. Even during the operation of electric trucks, the consulting team supports customers in the preparation and optimization of operating procedures.
From installation to maintenance: tailor-made charging solutions for customers
The charging processes for electric fleet vehicles are a significant factor, which needs to be considered in the operational flow. Therefore, a special focus of the consulting lies on the development and installation of intelligent charging solutions. For this, Daimler Trucks offers an analysis of the depots in close cooperation with external partners. Step by step, the team of consultants then specifies, for example, the charging stations suitable for the individual use case and possible extensions for the necessary power supply. Important factors such as charging location and charging time are taken into account as well.
Intelligent software to steer charging infrastructure
In future, the use of intelligent software to steer the charging infrastructure can further reduce investment and operating costs. Important cost factors for e-mobility in truck fleets include infrastructure costs. These can be significantly lower, if the charging infrastructure on the depot is designed for a comparatively low grid load. Other important cost factors include electricity costs. Electricity rates are based on a defined power requirement and certain consumption times. If the power specified in the electricity rate is not exceeded at a specific time of day, costs can be saved. Thus, the intelligent charging software controls the time-delayed charging of the vehicles or charging with a lower charging power, in order to minimize the load on the grid connection. Furthermore, the software integrates the charging process seamlessly into the operating procedure. The vehicles are charged exactly when they are available, taking into account in particular their planned arrival and departure.
Global e-truck portfolio
Daimler Trucks has been gaining experience with electric trucks since 2010 and since 2017 has had its first small series-produced all-electric truck on the market and in customers’ hands: the FUSO eCanter light-duty truck. More than 140 eCanter are already in customer service in cities worldwide, including New York City, Tokyo, Berlin, London, Amsterdam, Paris and Lisbon. The Mercedes-Benz eActros heavy-duty truck, with a range of up to 200 km, is in intensive use by customers in Germany and Switzerland as part of the eActros “innovation fleet”. The first hand-over to a customer was in 2018. In the United States, the medium-duty Freightliner eM2 and the heavy-duty Freightliner eCascadia are also undergoing intensive field tests with customers.
Global e-strategy developed by the E-Mobility Group Daimler Trucks & Buses
Since 2018, the E-Mobility Group bundles Daimler Trucks & Buses’ global know-how in the field of e-mobility and defines the strategy for electric components and products across brands and segments. As is the case with the global platform strategy for conventional vehicles, the E-Mobility Group develops an integrated electric architecture, maximizing the use of synergies and optimizing the application of investments. At the same time, the E-Mobility Group offers comprehensive consulting for customers and focuses on the entire ecosystem with the goal to make e-mobility economically feasible also in terms of TCO (Total Cost of Ownership). The E-Mobility Group is set up globally with employees working in various locations throughout the company’s worldwide development network, i.e. in Portland (U.S.), Stuttgart (Germany) and Kawasaki (Japan).
Daimler Trucks & Buses: sustainable corporate strategy
Daimler Trucks & Buses, one of the world’s largest commercial vehicle manufacturers, pursues a sustainable corporate strategy and aims to offer only new vehicles that are CO2-neutral in driving operation (“tank-to-wheel”) in the triad markets of Europe, Japan and NAFTA by 2039. Already by 2022, Daimler Trucks & Buses’ plans to include series-produced vehicles with battery-electric drive in its vehicle portfolio in its main sales regions Europe, USA and Japan. By the end of the next decade, Daimler Trucks & Buses will extend its range of vehicles with hydrogen-powered series production vehicles.
