DAIMLER TRUCK: Electrifying the Drive to Keep the World Moving

One of the world’s largest commercial vehicle manufacturers, Daimler has more than 40 manufacturing sites around the globe and more than 100,000 employees to drive the production of light, medium and heavy-duty trucks, city and intercity buses, coaches and bus chassis. Its trucks business consists of six strong brands, numbering Mercedes-Benz Trucks, Freightliner Trucks, Western Star, FUSO Trucks, BharatBenz Trucks and Thomas Built Buses.

“We offer pioneering technologies and tailor-made products for various applications worldwide with a complete range of services,” the company runs down. “Our customers move the world; they ensure that goods and people reach their destinations, that our everyday lives can function and that prosperity is created. The driving force for us at Daimler Truck is to provide our customers with the best possible support in their work.”

Studies show that this demand for mobility and transport will only continue to grow, as the products and services transported by these customers come to be needed more in the future than in the past, or even today. “We develop the right vehicles and services for them,” Daimler Truck furthers, “efficient and electric, safe and automated and reliable and connected. We are always there for our customers – indeed, for all who keep the world moving.”

DUAL TRACK

Daimler Truck holds a sweeping vision of leading sustainable transportation, having already travelled many miles down the road to zero-emission transport. In September Martin Daum, Chairman of the Board of Management of Daimler Truck AG, spoke at the world’s most important platform for the future of the commercial vehicle industry, the IAA Transportation fair in Hanover, of what the last four years had held for the company. “A lot has happened since our last IAA,” he began. “Our industry and Daimler Truck have used the past four years very well.

“Back in the fall of 2018, for example, we at Daimler Truck had just one zero-emission vehicle in series production: our FUSO eCanter light truck. This year, we have a portfolio of eight different zero-emission vehicles in series production, in Europe as well as in the Americas and Japan; we are quickly transforming our product portfolio to e-drive. At the same time, we are not just focused on speed – we are equally focused on quality. And I should rather say: qualities. Plural.

“We make sure our zero-emission vehicles come with state-of-the-art technologies. Our zero-emission vehicles provide all of the leading qualities our trucks and buses have always stood for, which is why these vehicles use the same brands as our conventional vehicles, just with an additional ‘e’ in front – Citaro becomes eCitaro, Actros becomes eActros, and so on.

“Going forward, we will further improve our zero-emission products, making them better year-by-year and generation-by-generation as we continue to further broaden our zero-emission product portfolio.”

The pursuit of the electrification of its portfolio will be achieved via a ‘dual track’ approach, Daum furthered, with both battery-electric and hydrogen-based drives taking into account the diverse transportation needs of its customers and enabling the company to offer optimal transport solutions for all applications. “We are focusing on battery and fuel-cell vehicles, because we are convinced our industry will need a dual strategy for the sustainable transport of the future,” he confirmed.

“We are also convinced we do not need a ‘triple’ strategy that includes natural gas — because gas-powered drives are just an expensive bridging technology that still relies on a fossil fuel and emits CO₂. Though it may sound counterintuitive, building two infrastructures – one for green electricity and one for green hydrogen – will be less expensive than building just one infrastructure, and at Daimler Truck we are contributing to add momentum.”

ZERO-EMISSION PORTFOLIO

Three new electric vehicles were unveiled at the IAA Transportation conference, including Daimler Truck’s first heavy-duty, battery-electric truck, the Mercedes-Benz eActros LongHaul, with a new e-axle and a range of 500km. Geared toward urban distribution transport, it was joined by the Mercedes-Benz eEconic for municipal use, also heading into series production at the company’s Wörth site.

“With the eEconic, we are putting the first electrically powered and series-produced Mercedes-Benz Special Truck on the road,” said Dr Ralf Forcher, Head of Mercedes-Benz Special Trucks. “Especially with regard to large cities, there is a need for quiet, clean and safe logistics and waste disposal solutions, and we offer just the right truck for this.” The eConic was integrated into line production in a very short time at the Wörth plant, showing once again that Daimler Truck is at the heart of the transformation to new drive systems at the site.

“In the course of the transformation towards CO₂-neutral transport, the Wörth site has set itself the goal, among other things, of continuously developing its workforce for the production of trucks with new drive systems.” The Mercedes-Benz eEconic represents a wholly responsible approach to the environment, but above all in urban use; its electric drive produces no local emissions and above all is quiet, characteristics that impact positively on the quality of life of both residents and of the vehicle crew.

Another Daimler and Mercedes-Benz subsidiary, FUSO, also displayed at the IAA Transportation trade show the Next Generation eCanter, which will be tailored for inner-city distribution transport and the requirements of the last mile. “At FUSO, we are frontrunners in the electrification of commercial vehicles,” detailed Karl Deppen, Member of the Board of Management of Daimler Truck.

“The Next Generation eCanter is the development result of around five years of eCanter experience gained with our customers around the globe. Compared to the previous eCanter, the significantly broader vehicle portfolio covers most of today’s common applications and makes an even greater contribution to locally emission-free inner-city transport than before.”

More powerful, more efficient, more range and a wide variety of applications – this is the essence of the Next Generation eCanter, and of the entirety of Daimler Truck’s newly launched architectures, characterised not only by their overall ecological and economic concept, but also by their versatility. Daimler Truck has long been regarded as a pioneer and frontrunner in electric trucks, and is consistently working on the implementation of sustainable, CO₂-neutral transport solutions.

“At Daimler Truck, we are sharply focused on truly emission-free technologies,” Daum closed. “Within five short years we will have a comprehensive zero-emission product portfolio, with vehicles that serve the full range from urban and regional to the most demanding long-haul use cases. By 2030 we expect our zero-emission vehicles to account for up to 60% of our total sales in Europe. We are delivering in every sense of the word, and that is something we are very proud of.”