The logistics service provider Dachser is planning to add 50 units of Mercedes-Benz eActros LongHaul to its European fleet. The global company from Kempten has signed a Letter of Intent with Mercedes-Benz Trucks to this end.
Dachser intends to use the eActros LongHaul configured as a 6×2 swap body vehicle with a storage height of 1,120 mm. Dachser is thus significantly expanding its electric vehicle fleet. The e-truck, with a range of around 500 km with one charge, is expected to be ready for series production by 2024.
Dachser has been using battery electric vehicles such as the FUSO eCanter and the eActros since 2018 as part of its sustainable urban delivery concept “Dachser Emission-Free Delivery”. In eleven European cities, battery electric vans and trucks deliver all consignments locally CO2-neutral as standard in a defined inner-city area.
On the last mile, Dachser also uses electrically supported cargo bikes to distribute the consignments. The pilot project in Stuttgart was the winner of the “Sustainable Urban Logistics” competition of the German Federal Ministry for the Environment and the Federal Environment Agency in 2018.
Development engineers at Mercedes-Benz Trucks are designing the eActros LongHaul so that the vehicle and its components meet the same durability requirements as a comparable conventional heavy long-distance Actros. That means 1.2 million kilometers on the road over a period of ten years. The batteries used in the eActros LongHaul employ lithium-iron phosphate cell technology (LFP). These are characterized, above all, by a long service life and more usable energy. The batteries of the production eActros LongHaul can be charged from 20 to 80 percent in well under 30 minutes at a charging station with an output of about one megawatt. Three battery packs provide an installed total capacity of over 600 kWh and two electric motors, as part of a new e-axle, generate a continuous output of 400 kW and a peak output of over 600 kW.
In addition to the tractor unit, Mercedes-Benz Trucks will also produce rigid variants of the eActros LongHaul right at market launch. This will offer customers numerous other possible use cases in fully electric transport.
