Daimler has announced new plans to electrify its truck lineup, and as part of it, they unveiled the Mercedes-Benz eActros LongHaul, a new long-range electric truck, and concept fuel cell truck.
Daimler Trucks, the commercial truck division of the German automaker, today unveiled its “technology strategy for the electrification of its vehicles.”
The company already had made some progress with electric trucks, like the eCascadia, an electric class 8 semi truck, and the eActros, a short-range urban electric truck.
As part of the release of its updated electrification plans, Daimler Trucks unveiled a long range version of the eActros electric truck, the new eActros LongHaul.
Daimler says that the truck will have a range of “about 500 km” (310 miles).
They are projecting for the new electric truck to “be ready for series production in 2024.”
Here’s a picture of the new eActros LongHaul electric truck concept:
The shorter range version of the eActros is already in the hands of customers who are testing it.
Along with the new battery-electric truck, Daimler also unveiled the Mercedes-Benz GenH2 Truck, a fuel-cell truck with a range of “up to 1,000 kilometers and more.”
The truck is going to be equipped with both a battery system and hydrogen fuel cells:
In the series version of the GenH2 Truck, the fuel-cell system is to supply 2 x150 kilowatts and the battery is to provide an additional 400 kW temporarily. At 70 kWh, the storage capacity of the battery is relatively low, as it is not intended to meet energy needs, but mainly to be switched on to provide situational power support for the fuel cell, for example during peak loads while accelerating or while driving uphill fully loaded. At the same time, the relatively light battery allows a higher payload. It is to be recharged in series-production vehicles with braking energy and excess fuel-cell energy.
Here are a few pictures of the the Mercedes-Benz GenH2:
Daimler plans for the electric-fuell cell truck to start customer trials in 2023, but the production is not going to start until the second half of this decade.
Electrek’s Take
I like Daimler’s effort to electrify its trucks. The eActros and the eCascadia seems like very good programs.
However, I don’t understand their hydrogen truck program.
At the rate electric trucks and batteries are improving, and with a much more simple charging infrastructure, I think it’s inevitable that battery-electric trucks will dominate the commercial truck industry one day.
We would get there much faster if they would the money to build their fuel cell truck program on battery-electric trucks.
Based on their own timeline, their battery-electric trucks are going to be in production for years by the time the GenH2 reaches production.
By the time, I think they will have similar range and the economics of the battery-electric trucks are going to make much more sense.
What do you think? Let us know in the comment section below.
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Author: Fred Lambert
Source: Electrek
