► Merc launches full-size electric lorry
► The Urban eTruck is a full EV
► 26-tonne load, 120-mile range
Looks like Mercedes-Benz just beat Tesla to the punch: it’s unveiled a fully electric truck, designed to make thundering artics just a little bit quieter and greener.
The new Urban eTruck shown this week has a 26-tonne payload, yet can travel up to 200 kilometres (120 miles) on one charge, according to Daimler. It has an electric rear axle with e-motors adjacent to the wheel hubs – and 700kg of lithium-ion batteries and hardware.
This remains a project for now though; series production is not slated to begin until early in the next decade – by which time battery costs should have plunged to €200 per kWh, while performance should have peaked at 200 Wh/kg.
Electric lorries: trials are underway
However, Merc has been trialling a lighter electric van, the Fuso Canter E-Cell, with partner Mitsubishi since 2004 (below).
‘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,’ said Wolfgang Bernhard, board member for Mercedes lorries.
‘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.’
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