Mercedes-Benz Trucks is starting practical trials for its all-electric heavy-duty eActros truck. The retail and logistics service provider Hermes is the first of 20 customers in different sectors that will integrate the electric truck into their fleets. Each customer will use a near-series 18 or 25-tonner in their normal operations for one year to test it for day-to-day suitability. The aim is to realise locally emission-free and quiet operation of heavy-duty trucks in cities. The test series is divided into two phases with 10 customers each, and covers a period of around two years.

Every type of customer operation will make specific demands on the eActros. Hermes will test a 25-tonner mainly on a 50 km long route between Bad Hersfeld and the Hermes logistics centre in Friedewald, northern Hessia. The route passes through hilly landscape and is covered six to eight times each day, making at least one charging process necessary between trips as the range of the eActros is up to 200 km.

Head of Mercedes-Benz Trucks Stefan Buchner said the practical trials with the eActros were an important milestone on the way to series production.

“We want to use the comprehensive findings to realise electric trucks that are economically comparable to diesel trucks for inner-city distribution from 2021. Our focus is on the operating range and cost of the batteries, and also on the infrastructure necessary for operations in our customers‘ commercial fleets.”

Head of central procurement at Hermes Germany Oliver Lanka said electromobility was an essential component of their sustainability strategy.

“We have set ourselves the ambitious goal of making our deliveries in all urban centres in Germany emission-free by 2025. Alongside the use of battery-electric vans over the last mile, the gradual electrification of heavy-duty distribution and feeder transport is an important topic for us. We are working together closely with Mercedes-Benz Trucks in this area. Both the technological concept of the eActros and the end-to-end service approach plus the level of advice have impressed us.”

Other customers participating in the first test phase will receive an eActros in the next few weeks. They are: Dachser, Edeka, Kraftverkehr Nagel, Ludwig Meyer, pfenning logistics, TBS Rhein-Neckar and Rigterink in Germany

Camion Transport and Migros in Switzerland.