Mercedes-Benz unveils first fully electric truck for heavy distribution

Mercedes-Benz has unveiled its Urban eTruck, the first fully electric truck equipped for heavy distribution operations.

The Urban eTruck is boasts a range of up to 200km and has an admissible total weight of 26 tonnes. It is based on a heavy-duty, three-axle short-radius Mercedes-Benz distribution truck, but features a totally revised drive concept, with the entire conventional drivetrain being replaced by a new electrically driven rear axle with electric motors directly adjacent to the wheel hubs.

Daimler has said that the development of an all-electric truck has being possible due to recent advances in battery cells, with the manufacturer expecting the cost of batteries to drop to as low as 200 euro/kWh by 2025.

Wolfgang Bernhard, responsible for Daimler Trucks & Buses at the board of management, said: "Electric drive systems previously only saw extremely limited use in trucks. 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.”

Stefan Buchner, Head of Mercedes-Benz Trucks: "With the Mercedes-Benz Urban eTruck, we are underlining our intention to systematically developing the electric drive in trucks to series production maturity. This means that we will begin to integrate customers, so as to gain valuable joint experience with respect to the operating ranges and the charging infrastructure in daily transport operations. Because we think the entry of this technology into the series production is already conceivable at the beginning of the next decade."

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