USA: Daimler Trucks preparing real-life trials in fleets
The two all-electric trucks Daimler dedicated to the U.S. market are about to take up real-life testing at selected clients based in California and the Pacific North West. In preparation of production in 2021, Daimler also installed the Electric Vehicle Council to share their insights from the trials.
Earlier this month Daimler Trucks & Buses announced they would bundle their know-how for electric propulsion systems in utility vehicles in a new, global-acting organisation named the E-Mobility Group (EMG). At the same time they introduced two new trucks, especially developed for the US market.
Released through Daimler subsidiary Freightliner, the two all-electric trucks aim for heavy and medium duty application and will now move onto the testing stage in real-life at selected partners. A total of 30 electric trucks will form what Daimler dubs their Freightliner Electric Innovation Fleet due to arrive at two clients later this year.
One partner is NFI that agreed to run ten eCascadia between the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. An even larger test fleet will take up operations at Penske. The company will begin taking delivery of 10 eCascadias and 10 eM2s for use in California and the Pacific Northwest.
Additionally, Daimler Trucks North America (DNTA) plans to operate electric trucks within its own fleet, the so-called product validation engineering (PVE) test fleet in Oregon.
Results from the testing will be shared with customers via a newly formed Electric Vehicle Council. So the process is one of “co-creation,” says Roger Nielsen, the CEO of DTNA. He added they chose these partners “because they have use cases that closely fit the target applications” Daimler identified. The smaller eM2 for example is suitable for deliveries in urban environments while eCascadia can take over heavy-duty task with its range of 400 km and 537 kW peak performance.
Both Daimler electric trucks will enter production by 2021.
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