Daimler Trucks Unveil Electric Powerhouse

Daimler Trucks has established the E-Mobility Group in the United States which will develop electric trucks for the global market. 

The announcement was made at the Capital ‘Market & Technology Day’ event in the U.S. during which Daimler Trucks presented two new, fully-electric trucks from Freightliner. 

The Freightliner eCascadia’s design will heavily resemble the Cascadia. The truck’s 550kWh batteries will power its 730hp engine for up to 400 km. The range can be extended with an 80% recharge (an extra 320 km) within 90 minutes. 

The eCascadia is the truck that would go up against Tesla’s Semi, for which Tesla claims a 300-mile range for the base $150,000 version and 500 miles with the $180,000 extended range model. 

The second new Daimler electric truck is the Freightliner eM2 106, a medium range truck for local distribution and last-mile deliveries. The electric version of the M2 cranks out 480 horsepower with its 325 kWh batteries and has a 230-mile full-charge range. An additional 184 miles of range is on tap after a 60-minute, 80-percent recharge. 

Daimler Trucks’s head of Global Powertrain and Manufacturing Engineering, Dr Frank Reintjes, suggests that their competition is not as concrete as traditional internal-combustion manufacturers.

“We expect increasing demand for electric trucks and buses, and are also receiving these signals from our customers,” says Reintjes. 

“Only manufacturers who lead the field in both conventional drive systems and electric drive systems are able to offer convincing solutions, technically and business-wise,” Reintjes says in a statement. 

“We know that only trucks and buses that fully meet the needs of transport operators will prevail in the market.” 

The announcement shows a progressive move in the company towards the use of future technology. Daimler has also set its sights on autonomous vehicles, opening the ‘Automated Truck Research & Development Centre’ in Portland Oregon in the United States.

Leave a comment

Please note, comments must be approved before they are published