Explorer EV Rally: A chat with Team Mercedes Benz Trucks

James Venables, Head of Future Sustainability at Mercedes-Benz Trucks UK shares what it's like to drive the "biggest vehicle on the rally", how last year’s event validated the eActros 600’s real-world performance, and what's new for the team in 2025

We are delighted that Mercedes-Benz Trucks UK is joining us again on the rally this year. What made you decide to get involved this year?

The 2024 EV rally was the debut of the eActros 600 being driven on UK roads. We used a near series production prototype in 2024 and lots has happened since then, with full production vehicles entering our customers’ hands in 2025 and our UK dealer partners investing heavily in their own demonstrators and eTruck ready service sites. So, this year we thought it would be great if our dealer partners could experience the rally in their own eActros 600 demonstrators!

Last year, you completed the rally in a eActros 600 fully freighted at 40 tonnes GVW, and did an amazing job at showcasing its capabilities. What were the highlights for you last year?

Well, it’s always fun to be the biggest vehicle on the rally with all the attention that went with it! From our perspective it was also our first chance to validate our own claim of at least 500km of driving range at 40t GCW on the UK road network. eActros 600 drew much admiration, not only  from the outstanding bunch of fellow rally participants, but also from truck drivers we spoke to at various truck stops, who for the first time could see that an electric truck with a 500+km range, could do a similar job to their ICE truck today. Finding out that eActros 600 had topped the highest charging power and most energy dispensed in a charging session at Gridserve Norwich was also cool!

Were there any challenges last year and will you be doing anything differently this year as a result?

Given the range of the eActros 600 and the 400kw CCS charging power, charging was straight forward and quick at suitable chargers. Getting such a large vehicle into some of the check points was a challenge requiring dropping the trailer beforehand, so we are hoping for more truck friendly checkpoints this year!

Please tell us about Team Mercedes-Benz Trucks UK - who will be driving and in what vehicle?

This year we have a very different set up with our dealers taking part in the in the first EV Rally relay with their own eActros 600 demonstrators. Euro Commercials, Rygor Auto, SAGA Truck and Van, Mertrux Truck and Van, Ciceley Commercials and Northside Truck and Van will take turns to haul our special EV Rally trailer over the 5 day route. 

This year the Rally’s focus is less on miles travelled and more on innovation and clean energy, with day three spent at the Cenex Expo. How important is renewable and innovation energy in the EV narrative?

With zero tailpipe emissions, eActros 600 can deliver up to 80% CO2 savings against its diesel equivalent over its lifecycle so can better the diesel after just 100,000km. This of course is high dependent on delivering the right proportion of renewable energy to the charger. For EVs to win the support of the public and remain credible, they need to demonstrate significant lifetime CO2 savings, so innovations that can improve the renewable energy mix in the UK to continue to deliver these savings are very important indeed.

What improvements do you hope to see in the public charging infrastructure for HGVs?

This year has seen some exciting developments on HGV dedicated infrastructure, with the Milence charging hub opening in Immingham and many HGV charging locations announced as part of the Innovate UK ZEHID trials. In addition, under our TruckCharge brand we are now able to give our dealers and customers the exciting possibility make their depot charging hubs semi public and sell charging sessions to other truck operators via new TruckCharge software. With further private investment planned from other CPO’s for truck charging hubs we hope to see a network evolve that makes the whole of the UK accessible for electric truck logistics.