Two all-electric Freightliner trucks unveiled by Daimler

On June 6^th Daimler Trucks North America unveiled the “broadest electric truck fleet in North America by 2021” according to the company’s President and CEO Roger Nielsen.

The Freightliner eCascadia heavy-duty truck and Freightliner eM2 medium-duty model was unveiled on the same day Daimler Trucks North America announced they created the Automated Truck Research and Development Center in Portland.

According to Martin Daum, the president of Daimler’s global truck and bus unit, electric mobility is and is going to be an important part of their company’s future.

“We have decades of experience in successfully producing durable commercial vehicles in high volumes that stand up to the demands our customers place on them," Nielsen said. "We now bring this unmatched experience and expertise to the electric truck category.”

Since the battery technology was the one aspect of electric mobility, which was not catching up to Daimler Trucks North America’s expectations, Nielsen claimed this is all in the past now and battery technology is more efficient. Nielsen rolled up to the press conference in an all-electric Saf-T-Liner C2 Jouley school bus, specially manufactured by Daimler Trucks North America’s Thomas Built Buses unit. The bus’s limited production will begin in 2019 and will join the Fuso eCanter – the fully electric light-duty truck.

eCascadia

Next on the press conference, Nielsen revealed the aformentioned eCascadia, which offers a range of 250 miles, additional 200 miles of driving and can be recharged up to 80% of capacity in 90 minutes, according to Nielsen himself. Up to 730 peak horsepower is tamed under the hood of the eCascadia, while the battery power provides 550 Kwh usable capacity. It is said that the electric Daimler model will be directly competing with Tesla’s electric semi, although the Semi will have double the range of the eCascadia, 500 miles, and be able to receive up to 400 miles of range from a 30-minute charge. It will also be able to accelerate from 0-60 mph in five seconds without any cargo and in 20 seconds while carrying 80,000 pounds of cargo

eM2

Immediately after the eCascadia, Nielsen presented the next model – the eM2. The debuting model offers the ability to recharge to 80% in 60 minutes, a 230-mile range, while providing drivers another 180 miles. All of this backed up with up to 480 peak horsepower.

Both the eCascadia and the eM2 will be in serious production in the next couple of years, including 2020 and 2021, according to Daimler’s CEO Roger Nielsen. In the meantime, Daimler Trucks North America will roll out the Freightliner Electric Innovation Fllet in 2018. The first 30 eCascadias and eM2s will be delivered to the first 30 customers. “Which are hauling real freight” said Nielsen.

The automated truck center of Daimler Trucks North America will be built in Portland, on the grounds of the existing headquarters. The building engineers are going to work in close coordination with colleagues from India and Germany.

The demonstration of the automatic emergency braking of a two-truck platoon was among the series of demonstrations Daimler Trucks North America showcased during the press conference’s events.