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NEWS
eTruck promises city freight solution
With its recently revealed eTruck, Daimler is eyeing a whole new world of possibility…Daimler says it's poised to begin volume production of a fully electric heavy truck from 2020, with its recently revealed Mercedes-Benz Urban eTruck – a fully working prototype – set to pave the way to a new generation of road transport.
Revealed in Germany on Wednesday, July 27, the eTruck has a gross vehicle mass of 26 tonnes and a range of 200km, says Daimler, and is powered by lithium ion batteries. Based upon a standard three-axle Mercedes-Benz distribution truck, the electrically driven rear axle features an electric motor directly adjacent to each wheel hub.
Derived from the ZF AVE130 axle developed for the Mercedes-Benz Citaro hybrid bus, in eTruck form the axle has been raised to deliver ground clearance of 200mm. The axle also has a load limit of 11.5 tonnes.
Each motor can produce up to 125kW and 500Nm, while in combination with the gearing the amount of torque at the wheel is said to reach 11,000Nm. The three banks of lithium-ion batteries provide a total capacity of 212kWh, while they're modular in nature – batteries can be added or removed as needed.
The batteries are also house between the chassis frame rails, affording them maximum protection in the event of an accident.
The batteries have a charging power of 100kW, and can be charged from flat to 100 per cent in two to three hours, days Daimler.
Daimler says the electrically driven axle weighs around 1000kg. The other necessary electrical components add up to a further 900kg and the batteries weigh 2500kg. However, the weight saved through the removal of the traditional internal combustion engine, the transmission, the prop shaft, the differential and the fuel tank adds up to 2700kg, meaning the eTruck weighs an extra 1700kg compared to a traditional counterpart.
While the accepted GVM for this class of vehicle is 25 tonnes in Europe, the European Commission is currently examining raising this figure to 26 tonnes for electric trucks. Should the EC do so, the Urban eTruck will only be 700kg over that of a comparable internal-combustion-engined truck.
According to Dr Wolfgang Bernhard, head of Daimler Trucks & Buses, the company plans to invest heavily in electric-drive trucks in coming years.
"Electric drive systems previously only saw extremely limited use in trucks," he says.
"Nowadays costs, performance and charging times develop further so rapidly that now there is a trend reversal in the distribution sector: the time is ripe for the electric truck.
"In light distribution trucks, our Fuso Canter E-Cell has already been undergoing intensive customer trials since 2014. And with the Mercedes-Benz Urban eTruck, we are now electrifying the heavy distribution segment up to 26 tonnes.
"We intend to establish electric driving as systematically as autonomous and connected driving."
Daimler cites the growing trend towards urbanisation as further reason for developing a viable electric truck. The year 2008 saw more people living in cities than in the country for the very first time, while the United Nations forecasts that by 2050, around 70 per cent of the world's projected population of nine billion will be living in cities.
That means strong growth for the urban freight task, and a requirement for a clean and emissions-free road transport solution.
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Written byRod Chapman
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