M-B eActros World Premiere

Today (June 30) Mercedes-Benz celebrated the launch of the battery-electric eActros, a heavy-duty truck designed for short-haul distribution.

At the launch, Mercedes-Benz said that with this truck it was ringing in a new era – an electric heavy-duty truck bearing the three-pointed star, heralding the company’s aim which is to achieve CO2 neutral road transport.

Full production of the eActros is planned to begin rolling off the line at Worth am Rhein (Germany) from September 2021.

The eActros will have all the features of the current diesel Actros including MirrorCam, full safety equipment and the Multimedia Cockpit. Safety features will include SideGuard Assist which will alert drivers to a cyclist or pedestrian in their blind spot when turning off to the left, plus Active Brake Assist which is an autonomous emergency braking system.

The new Mercedes-Benz is driven by a drive unit consisting of a rigid electric axle with two integrated electric motors and a two-speed transmission. Both liquid-cooled motors generate continuous output of 330kW and top performance of 400kW (536hp).

The series-production trucks will be fitted with either three or four battery packs each with a capacity of around 105kWh giving a maximum battery capacity of 420kWh which translates to a range of up to 400 kilometres.

When connected to a regular 400A DC charging station, the three battery pack version will need a little longer than one hour to charge from 20 per cent to 80 per cent.

The eActros will be available as a two or three-axle truck with GVMS of 19 or 27 tonnes. At launch we were not given the tare weights so at this stage we don’t know what the load-carrying capacity of the trucks will be. Suffice to say that the big battery packs will take up a fair bit of the payload.

In 2018, the first prototypes of the eActros were handed over to various customers around Europe for practical testing. The aim of this ‘eActros innovation fleet’ was to create a market and series-ready electric truck for heavy-duty short-radius distribution from 2021.

Out of this, aspects such as the energy requirements in various operating scenarios and the efficiency of the eActros prototypes were determined. The development and testing of the prototypes from the innovation fleet were funded, in part, by various German government departments.

After running for more than two years, the main finding from the pilot project was that performance of the prototypes was impressive. Drivers were particularly pleased with the continuous availability of the torque across the entire speed range, as well as the quiet running and the pleasant, smooth driving experience. Mercedes-Benz said: “It was customer co-creation in its purest form”.

Initially, the series-production model of the eActros will be available in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Spain, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Great Britain, Denmark, Norway and Sweden. Further markets, including ours, will follow.

Commenting on the availability of the eActros in Australia, Mercedes-Benz Truck and Bus Australia Pacific Director, Andrew Assimo said: “We are very excited about ground-breaking Mercedes-Benz electric trucks and buses, including the pioneering eActros.

“We are not yet in a position to confirm any local electric model introductions, but are certainly working towards making these exciting vehicles available in Australia at the appropriate time,” Mr Assimo added.

There is no word in how much the eActros will cost, but rest assured it will be more than the diesel version and as there are still no government incentives for operators or companies to buy electric or alternative-fuel commercial vehicles, sales will be initially slow

However, this is certainly the thin edge of the wedge and Daimler has more electric and alternative-fuel trucks on the way – maybe sooner than you think.