Mercedes-Benz Trucks is bringing the world´s first all-electric heavy-duty truck to market, but only 20 units will be available in 2017. Unfortunately, it won’t be seen in Australia just yet.
Following the presentation of the Urban eTruck -with a range of up to 200 km – at the International Commercial Vehicle Show in 2016, the first vehicles will be delivered to customers this year.
“There are no immediate plans for the Urban eTruck in Australia, but it remains an exciting proposition for us in the future,” head of public relations at Daimler Truck and Bus Mercedes-Benz Australia/Pacific, James Stanford told AutoTalk.
“At this stage we are not in a position to discuss timeframes, but, as is the case with any new models, we would need to be sure the technology was thoroughly tried and tested in Australian conditions before introducing it,” Stanford notes.
The Urban eTruck will initially go in a low two-figure number of units to customers in Germany – and later in Europe too. It will be tested in real transportation applications there.
The tests will include use in shift operation, charging times plus battery and range management.
Stefan Buchner, head of Mercedes-Benz Trucks worldwide says the company is currently talking to around 20 potential customers from the disposal, foodstuffs and logistics sectors.
“With the small series we are now rapidly taking the next step towards a series product.
“By 2020 we want to be on the market with the series generation,” he says.
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 12 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 greater push from Daimler to get electric trucks on roads. The light-duty electric truck Fuso eCanter will be in use in a global small series in 2017.
Around 150 Fuso eCanter units will be handed over to selected customers in Europe, Japan and the US.
Daimler Trucks also expects the costs for the batteries of an all-electric truck to fall by a factor of 2.5 between 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.
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