Mercedes-Benz eActros 600 Review

When you think of electric trucks, a couple of things are glaringly apparent; the speed with which they have come to the market and the speed with which they have progressed.

The very first electric truck I drove was the Fuso eCanter when it was still in its trial phase in 2019. That was only five years ago. And what is more amazing is that the eCanter was launched onto the Australian market in April of 2021, a mere three years ago.

At that time, the eCanter had a range of a little more than 100 kilometres if it was driven sensibly. Since then, we’ve had quite a few electric trucks launched. We’ve seen the second generation of the eCanter with its generation-leaping eAxle and a 14-model lineup with ranges of up to 300 kilometres. That’s triple the range in three years!

But we’re not here to talk about the Fuso product today, we’re here to talk about the Mercedes-Benz eActros.

We first saw the eActros at the Brisbane Truck Show in 2023, and although it had been working in fleets in Europe since 2018, Daimler Truck Australia wanted to do some validation testing here before the launch, so the eActros went into hiding for a while before being officially launched in May this year.

When we had our first drive of the eActros in February, it’d be an understatement to say we were excited. Here was a purpose-built electric truck that had a great carrying capacity of up to 16 tonnes (only limited by our front-axle load restrictions), a solid range of 300-plus kilometres, and all the safety features of a regular Mercedes-Benz Actros.

It’s driven by a powerful eAxle that puts out 536hp (400kW) peak performance and 443hp (330kW) of continuous output. The eAxle is fed by three lithium-ion battery packs with 336kWh capacity.

Mercedes-Benz Trucks says the eActros has a 10dB noise reduction which is an approximate halving of the perceptible in-cabin volume from what is already a quiet truck.

The eActros is equipped with the second-generation MirrorCam system so that even on the freeway, you don’t get the wind noise from the mirrors because all the eActros has is a couple of little stalks poking out the side on which the cameras are mounted. So with that, combined with a fairly aerodynamic truck, there’s very little wind noise.

Then, a couple of weeks ago we got a run in the eActros prime mover with a single trailer loaded to 35 tonnes.

The eActros 300 Prime Mover has a similar setup to the rigid trucks but Daimler Truck has lowered the range to 200 kilometres due to the extra weight that the prime mover can haul.

Obviously, with these electric trucks, the range is dependent on the driver, the load and the conditions, so it seems that Daimler Truck is trying to err on the side of conservative so as not to potential owners’ ambitions too high.

The eActros prime mover features a High Power Brake Resistor (HPR) system. This means that any additional braking energy that can’t be fed into the batteries will be converted into heat and dissipated.

This is an unlikely scenario but it ensures the truck has a ‘continuous braking system’ (not counting the service brakes). It means the truck will always be able to be slowed using the ‘engine braking’ electric motor retardation that slows it and captures energy to feed back into the batteries, even if they are full.

We took the eActros 300 on a run from the western suburbs of Melbourne down around the docks (probably where some of these trucks will end up working) and back to the western ’burbs where the truck hub of Victoria lies.

It was an interesting drive and one that gave us a real feel for the truck and what it was like to drive in the city.

It is a lovely truck to steer and a very easy one to drive once you’ve mastered the regen braking (which isn’t hard). The eActros will prove to be a great truck for urban delivery and light container work.

And then, for our most recent drive, we were treated to a drive of the eActros 600 around the area surrounding the huge Mercedes-Benz truck factory in Wurth, Germany.

As the name suggests, the eActros 600 boats a huge 600kWh battery bank. It is a truck that, in Europe, can cross countries and do what is their long-haul driving.

Here, it could easily do intrastate work and, with a bit of infrastructure, even some interstate runs.

The 600 uses a similar eAxle setup to the eActros 300 but with a big difference; it has a four-speed transmission and what feels like an even stronger regen braking system.

It also has different batteries. Where the eActros 300 has three lithium-ion battery packs with 336kWh capacity, the eActros 600 also has three battery packs, but each has 207kWh, resulting in a capacity of 621kWh. The batteries are based on lithium-iron phosphate (LFP) cell technology and feature a long service life.

In addition to CCS charging with up to 400kW, the 600 will also soon be capable of megawatt charging (MCS). The batteries can then be charged from 20 to 80 per cent in approximately 30 minutes at a charging station with the power of around one megawatt.

In April this year, Mercedes-Benz Trucks developers successfully charged the eActros 600 with 1000 kilowatts for the first time in an internal test. Mercedes-Benz Trucks says it is extensively involved in the development of the new, industry-wide MCS charging standard.

Driving in another country on the opposite side of the road can be a bit of a bit of a daunting task. Even sitting on the left-hand side of the vehicle feels quite unusual. And doing it in a semi loaded to 40 tonnes puts another aspect to it.

However, I found driving the Mercedes-Benz in and around Wurth was a breeze. Why? Because it’s so easy to drive that there’s not a lot to think about, and I found I could concentrate more on my surroundings and where to put the truck than worrying about a whole lot of other aspects of driving.

In the built-up areas where it was tight, the eActros was a gem. It’s very manoeuvrable with great vision from the driver’s seat. The pickup from a standing start is amazing as you get full torque from zero revs, and I used the regen braking to pull up most of the time.

I have driven quite a few electric trucks recently so I’m quite used to using regen braking rather than the service brakes and the retardation from the regen on the eActros is second to none. In fact, my passenger had her phone go flying into the footwell on one occasion when I dragged the regen stalk right down to the fifth position in traffic. It really can pull up the truck in a hurry.

Out on the open road, I set the driving mode to Power so I got the full top speed (they are governed to 80km/h in Eco mode, 85 in Normal and 90 in Power). On the autobahn, I could set the Predictive Power Control cruise and let the truck’s smarts do the work.

The steering on these eActros trucks is terrific. It’s electro/hydraulic and is very direct with no slop and wandering. The quiet ride and smoothness of the suspension just add to the experience.

The Interactive 2 multimedia cockpit provides continuous information on the state of charge of the batteries, the remaining range, and the current and average energy consumption in kilowatt-hours per 100 kilometres.

On our 72-kilometre circuit from the Wurth customer centre through city driving, some tight country roads and the autobahn back to the customer centre, the eActos 600’s energy consumption was around 111kWh per 100 kilometres. This would give the eActros 600 a theoretical range of about 540km.

Following our introduction and drive of the eActros, we’re convinced that the big electric prime mover has a place in our transport industry. It is a magnificent truck to drive, it has all the quality, safety and longevity that we’ve come to expect from the German manufacturer and it now has the range to be a serious contender against its diesel rivals in the Australian market.

We spoke with Andrew Assimo, Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Daimler Truck Australia to find out when we can expect the eActros 600 to be available here and were told that it would soon be out here for testing.

“The eActros 300 rigid and eActros 300 prime mover are the most advanced electric trucks in their respective classes in Australia and are available right now,” Mr Assimo said.

“The remarkable eActros 600 provides a vision of what can be achieved in the future of electric trucking and moves the focus of our electric offering further out from the city-focused eActros 300 models.

“We are currently looking at the role the exciting eActros 600, or a version of it, can play in Australia and will be conducting a local evaluation program next year,” he added.

We’re sure that when it does get here, the eActros 600 will certainly gain popularity for those looking for a sustainable addition to their fleet.