Daimler rolls out two electric trucks

Freightliner Trucks premiered two fully electrified commercial vehicles, a Freightliner eCascadia heavy-duty truck and a Freightliner eM2 106 medium-duty truck yesterday during the Daimler Trucks Capital Market and Technology Day in Portland, Oregon.

Freightliner says it plans to deliver an ‘Electric Innovation Fleet’ of 30 vehicles to customers later this year for further testing under real-world operating conditions.

The eCascadia is claimed to have up to 730 peak horsepower. The batteries provide 550 kWh usable capacity, a range of up to 400 kilometres and have the ability to charge up to 80 per cent (providing a range of 320 kilometres) in about 90 minutes.

The eM2 offers a claimed 480 horsepower. Its batteries provide 325 kWh of usable capacity, a range of up to 370 kilometres and have the ability to charge up to 80 per cent (providing a range of nearly 300 kilometres) in about 60 minutes. The eM2 is Freightliner’s electrified solution for local distribution, pickup and delivery, food and beverage delivery, and last-mile logistics applications. Daimler Trucks North America (DTNA) says its goal is to start production in 2021.

“The Freightliner eCascadia and eM2 are designed to meet customer needs for electrified commercial vehicles serving dedicated, predictable routes where the vast majority of daily runs fall between 45 and 150 miles (72 to 240km),” said Roger Nielsen, president and chief executive officer of DTNA.

“These innovative trucks reflect DTNA’s commitment to bring practical, game-changing technology to market. The eCascadia, utilising North America’s bestselling Class 8 platform, and eM2 106, based on one of the most in-demand medium-duty truck designs, are built on validated, series production trucks in extensive use by our customers every day,” he added.

The Freightliner eCascadia with 36 tonne gross combined weight and eM2 with 12 tonne GCW are part of Daimler Trucks’ global electrified truck initiative. The Mercedes-Benz eActros, with a range up to 200km and a 25 tonne GCW, is now entering testing for distribution applications with customers in Europe, while the E-FUSO Vision One, a concept truck in Japan with a range of 320km and a 23 tonne GCW, gives an outlook on the electrification of the Fuso portfolio.

The Fuso eCanter, a light-duty truck, is already available in series model production as a fully electric truck from Daimler Trucks.

“Our primary goal at DTNA is bringing vehicles to market that are safe, reliable and efficient. Heavy-duty electric vehicles present the greatest engineering challenges, but they also are the best learning laboratories,” Nielsen said.

“DTNA is striving to develop electric commercial vehicles that reduce emissions and enhance our customers’ bottom lines through improved uptime and lower operating costs,” said Richard Howard, senior vice president, sales and marketing, Freightliner Trucks.

New autonomous R&D centre
Meanwhile, Daimler also announced the creation of an automated-truck research and development centre in Portland. The facility will be located at Daimler Trucks North America (DTNA) headquarters on Swan Island in Portland, where DTNA already has a significant research and development presence, including a full-scale heavy-duty truck wind tunnel, as well as the High Desert Proving Grounds nearby in Madras, Ore.

The centre will be dedicated to further developing autonomous driving technology and understanding its impact on society and benefits for customers. Engineers there will draw on research and development resources from Daimler Trucks in Germany and India. The three locations will work closely together, while R&D activities on autonomous trucks in Germany will also be expanded to expedite the company’s efforts in this field.

The new facility is part of the company’s plans to invest more than €2.5 billion ($3.85bn) in total research and development activities in 2018 and 2019 with more than €500 million ($770m) of that earmarked for e-mobility, connectivity and automated commercial vehicle technology.