Daimler Trucks presented the Mercedes-Benz Urban eTruck in Stuttgart, Germany in July 2016 as the first fully electric truck with an admissible total weight of up to 26 tons.
This means that in the future, heavy trucks will take part in urban distribution operations with zero local emissions and hardly a whisper.
The market launch of this technology is conceivable for Daimler Trucks at the beginning of the next decade.
In the light distribution sector, Daimler Trucks has already been impressively demonstrating the day-to-day suitability of the fully electric truck in customer trials with the Fuso Canter E-Cell since 2014.
Better air quality, lower noise and restricted-access zones are now important keywords in large metropolises worldwide, because more and more people worldwide are moving to cities. 2008 was the first year in which more people lived in cities than in the countryside.
The United Nation predicts a global population of nine billion people by 2050, with approximately 70% living in cities.
In future, it will be necessary to transport goods in urban environments for more people – and with the lowest possible emissions and noise.
By now large cities such as London or Paris are considering a ban on internal combustion engines in city centers in the future.
Battery capacity
Until quite recently, the use of fully electric drives systems in trucks seemed to be unimaginable – especially because of the high costs of the batteries coupled with a low range.
The technology has now become much more mature, particularly the rapid development of battery cells.
Daimler Trucks expects the costs of batteries to lower by the factor 2.5 between 1997 and 2025 – from 500 Euro/kWh down to 200 Euro/kWh.
At the same time, performance will improve by the same factor over the same period – from 80 Wh/kg up to 200 Wh/kg.
The entire conventional drivetrain is being replaced by a new electrically driven rear axle with electric motors directly adjacent to the wheel hubs – derived from the electric rear axle that was developed for the Mercedes-Benz Citaro hybrid bus.
The power is supplied by a battery pack consisting of three lithium-ion battery modules. This results in a range of up to 200 km – enough for a typical daily delivery tour.
With the integrated concept with motors adjacent to the wheel hubs, the batteries are housed in a crash-proof location inside the frame.
Since April 2016 the city of Stuttgart and the parcel service provider Hermes are testing five Fuso Cater E-Cell in Germany.
Especially the using in the topographically very demanding environment in urban Stuttgart provides insights for Daimler Trucks from the customer operation with regard to the further development of the fully electric drive.
The first results from this customer trial are expected at the beginning of 2017.
