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Daimler Truck is the world’s largest commercial vehicle manufacturer, with truck brands such as Fuso, Freightliner and Mercedes Benz in its stable. Last year, it sold more than 500,000 new vehicles, including 3,400 zero-emission trucks and buses – a three fold increase from the previous year.
In Australia, Daimler has been quietly trialling electric versions of their Canter and Actros with a number of business customers, and this year will formally launch updated versions of these two, and launch the new eEconic.
The Driven recently attended a fleet customer’s launch of the three where closed-road test drives were made available.
The smallest of the trio is the eCanter, now into its second iteration.
For the gen 2 version, a newly designed combination rear drive unit called the eAxle has been swapped in for the previous system where the electric motor effectively replaced the diesel motor and gearbox to drive the standard differential through a tailshaft.
In its place, the eAxle combines the electric motor, gearbox and differential into one unit that is placed between the rear wheels to drive two half-shafts.
This frees up the space previously taken up by a front mounted electric motor, gearbox and tailshaft arrangement. By making this change, Daimler Trucks have not only made efficiency gains, it has freed up significant room (and weight) for batteries in order to increase the available payload.
The first generation the eCanter has been available in Australia since 2021, but for lease only – however the second generation eCanter is now available for outright purchase.
At 4.5 tonne Gross Vehicle Mass (GVM), the smallest versions of the eCanter (e515) can be driven with a car licence and comes with a 41.3 kWh battery offering around 100km of driving range. Larger versions (which require a light truck licence) come with up to 8.5t gross and driving ranges of up to 200 km with the 82.6 kWh battery and 300 km with the 124 kWh battery pack.
The eCanter uses a regenerative braking set-up that works like traditional truck retarder braking. This means you choose from set levels of ‘engine’ braking, as you do in a truck, rather than the variable version offered through the accelerator and brake of passenger cars.
As a car driver, this version of regenerative braking takes a little bit of getting used to – but it does simplify the transition from ICE to electric for regular truck drivers.
On that front, the eCanter dash in the updated range has been kept in look and feel very similar to the new ICE version – again making it easier for the eCanter to be used in a mixed fleet as drivers switch between IEC and EV versions during the transition to electric.
(This by the way is also a key point in favour of the Ford e-Transit van – as noted in my review of it for TheDriven last year).
Charging of the eCanter can be done using either 22kW AC or 100kW DC.
The eCanter is available in four versions:
The eActros first began European trials in 2018 and went into production in 2022. It is a medium to heavy truck available in rigid and prime mover 4×2 (four wheel/2 driven) and 6×2 (6 wheels, 2 driven) configurations.
The eActros offers up to 40t Gross Combination Weight (GCW) and features an eAxle drive system and up to 334 kWh of battery.
Local driving range testing by Daimler has achieving 300 km fully loaded, with 20% battery capacity still remaining. Charging is DC only at up to 150 kW.
The eEconic is similar to the eActros, but with a more accessible cabin that has a passenger side ‘bus door’ style exit and large expanses of glass for better visibility.
It is designed for municipal use as rubbish trucks and the like where visibility and easy in/out access is required. It is to be sold here as a both a 4×2 19t and 6×2 26t GVW vehicle offering a payload of 16.3t for the 6×2.
All three are being marketed as offering class leading Advanced Driver Assistance systems (ADAS), including the ability to automatically brake when left turning for pedestrians, bicycles and vehicles using front and left side radars and a front camera.
There is also a new connected service (currently being developed and rolled out) for the three that will allow real-time route and charging planning as well as full telematics access for fleet managers.
As for price – like all new technology, in the early adoption phase it does not come cheap. However for businesses that do a lot of short-trip kilometres and want less down-time, the economics may already be starting to tip in favour of the electric alternative.
In addition, electric trucks are much quieter to operate, meaning in inner city areas they could allow extended operational times where noise curfews are an issue.
Bryce Gaton is an expert on electric vehicles and contributor for The Driven and Renew Economy. He has been working in the EV sector since 2008 and is currently working as EV electrical safety trainer/supervisor for the University of Melbourne. He also provides support for the EV Transition to business, government and the public through his EV Transition consultancy EVchoice.
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