100 eActros trucks for DB Schenker

Logistics giant DB Schenker and Mercedes-Benz Trucks have signed a joint letter of intent for the purchase of 100 Mercedes-Benz eActros LongHaul for European long-distance haulage operations.

The use of the battery-electric eActros LongHaul is intended to contribute to achieving CO2 neutrality on DB Schenker’s balance sheet by 2040. The electric truck has a range of around 500 km (310 miles) on a single charge and is expected to reach series maturity in 2024.

Mercedes-Benz Trucks will supply 100 eActros LongHaul trucks for logistics operations in Europe. (Photo: Daimler Truck)

“DB Schenker is an important and long-standing partner for us that is already successfully using our electric trucks for distribution haulage,” said Stina Fagerman, head of Marketing, Sales and Services at Mercedes-Benz Trucks. “We are therefore all the more pleased that, for long-distance haulage, the company has chosen another vehicle sporting the three-pointed star – the battery-electric eActros LongHaul.”

Mercedes-Benz Trucks said it is designing the eActros LongHaul so that the vehicle and its components meet the same durability requirements as a comparable conventional heavy long-distance Actros – 1.2 million km (745,000 miles) on the road over a period of 10 years. The batteries used in the eActros LongHaul employ lithium-iron phosphate cell technology (LFP). These are characterized, above all, by a long service life and more usable energy, the company said.

The batteries of the production eActros LongHaul can be charged from 20 to 80% in well under 30 minutes at a charging station with an output of about 1 MW, Mercedes-Benz Trucks said. Three battery packs provide an installed total capacity of over 600 kWh and two electric motors, as part of a new e-axle, generate a continuous output of 400 kW and a peak output of over 600 kW.

In addition to the tractor unit, Mercedes-Benz Trucks will also produce rigid variants of the eActros LongHaul right at market launch. This will offer customers numerous other possible use cases in fully electric transport. After successful winter tests in Rovaniemi, Finland, at temperatures as low as -25º, the next step is testing on public roads.

“The successive expansion of our electric fleet will enable us to pursue our objective of becoming the world’s leading provider of green logistics,” said Cyrille Bonjean, head of Land Transport at DB Schenker Europe. “With the eActros LongHaul, it is now also possible to use battery-electric vehicles on long distances. For us, it is important to take responsibility for the environment and to promote ecological solutions.”