Mercedes-Benz Trucks has signed a letter of intent (LOI) with a German logistics company Hegelmann Group for an order of 50 eActros LongHaul electric trucks. The vehicles will be delivered successively from the start of series production in 2024.
Mercedes-Benz Trucks unveiled the concept prototype of the eActros LongHaul at the 2022 IAA Transportation trade fair in Hanover, Germany, recently.
"To make transportation sustainable and emission-free for the future, we need many strong partners at our side. Therefore, we are very pleased about this agreement and the confidence of the Hegelmann Group in the Mercedes-Benz Trucks brand," said Stina Fagerman, head of sales, marketing, and services at Mercedes-Benz Trucks.
The Hegelmann Group, a family-owned logistic company that operates in Europe, will be among the first fleets to get the eActros LongHaul in 2024.
"The greater the success, the greater the responsibility. We are open to challenges, and at the same time, we strive for sustainability in our industry," said Siegfried Hegelmann, managing shareholder at the Hegelmann Group
Tested on public roads for the first time this year
Following its presentation at the IAA in Hanover, the 40-tonne electric truck will be tested on public roads for the first time this year. Intensive customer testing with near-series prototypes is also scheduled for 2023, for which Mercedes-Benz Trucks has signed letters of intent with both Amazon and Rhenus.
The eActros LongHaul is expected to be equipped with three battery packs with the new Lithium-iron Phosphate Fell (LFP) technology, providing a total installed capacity of more than 600kWh, and two additional electric motors, which are claimed to help generate power from 536hp to 804hp.
The heavy-duty truck will support the future truck charging standard – the so-called MCS (Megawatt Charging System), which will allow the batteries to be charged from 20 to 80% in what the truck maker says "well under 30 minutes at a charging station with an output of about one megawatt".
According to Mercedes Trucks, the eActros LongHaul will have a driving range of about 500km on a single battery charge. The heavy-duty electric truck is designed to last up to a service life of 10 years or more than 1.2 million kilometres, similar to conventional trucks.
In addition to the semitrailer tractor, Mercedes-Benz Trucks is also producing flatbed chassis variants of the eActros LongHaul right from market launch. This offers customers numerous other possible applications in all-electric transport.
The eActros LongHaul will be the first all-electric series-production vehicle from Mercedes-Benz Trucks to be manufactured from start to finish on the existing assembly line at the Wörth truck plant in Germany. The goal is to increase the share of locally CO2-neutral new vehicles in Europe to more than 50% by 2030.