When one seeks, one finds. After the electric plane, which shows the tips of its wings, here is the electric truck. A prototype of the brand’s vehicle Mercedes Benz », referred to as « eActros LongHaul” electric, was presented at a press conference before the German utility show “ LPN which opens its doors in Hanover on Monday.
The eActros, with a range of around 500 kilometers on a single battery charge, should be ready for series production in 2024. The truck’s batteries can be charged from 20 to 80 percent in series at a station charging about one megawatt of power in less than 30 minutes.
Amazon will test this electric truck from 2023
Amazon and German logistics group Rhenus will test the vehicle in real-world operation from 2023, according to a partnership signed with Mercedes-Benz Trucks, one of the brands of the Daimler Trucks group.
The manufacturer is also presenting in Hanover a second version of the eActros for transporting goods in urban and suburban areas, with a range of 300 kilometers and a capacity of up to 40 tonnes.
Tesla still in the race
These electrified trucks have been developed to meet the same durability requirements as the Actros model in diesel version. This means that the electric truck should drive 1.2 million kilometers in ten years of operation.
The American competitor Tesla was strong in 2018 to launch a 40-tonne model with a range of 800 kilometers, counting on producing it in series from 2019. These plans have been delayed but Tesla boss Elon Musk has promised that deliveries of its electric truck will start well ” This year “, in a tweet issued in August.
Mercedes-Benz, born from the split of Daimler into Mercedes-Benz on one side and Daimler Truck on the other, saw its net profit increase by 2% in the second quarter, to 3.2 billion euros. It forecast in July an operating profit (Ebit) “ slightly higher » to the previous year, when it announced a stable result so far.
Toyota set to launch electric minivans
The electrification of commercial cars is accelerating all over the world. Toyota and other Japanese automakers in a joint venture plan to launch electric minivans in the Japanese market sometime in the current fiscal year 2022/23. Toyota will provide its technologies in electrification while its partners in this joint venture, Suzuki and Daihatsu, will offer their know-how in the mass production of mini-utility vehicles. Meanwhile, Toyota and Japanese truck makers Hino and Isuzu, also in the joint venture, announced on Tuesday that they plan to introduce a hydrogen-powered light truck in Japan after January 2023, which will also be rolled out. in these pilot projects in Tokyo and Fukushima.
(With AFP)