Full-size electric semi-trucks are real now and on the road. Daimler announced that it delivered more electric Freightliner semi-trucks as part of its customer test fleet.
Daimler, one of the world’s largest truck makers, has been feeling the pressure from Tesla’s electric truck — going as far as saying that if the claims Tesla is making about its electric semi-truck are true, they are breaking the laws of physics.
The German truck manufacturer answered back with the launch of its own electric truck group along with the unveiling of two more electric trucks, including an electric version of their Cascadia to compete with Tesla Semi.
While it competes with the Tesla Semi in size and capacity, it still has a limited range compared to the Tesla Semi: 250 miles vs. 500 miles.
Daimler said that it would deliver a fleet of eCascadia electric trucks to partners by end of 2018 — beating Tesla’s 2019 target.
However, both Daimler’s and Tesla’s electric semi-truck programs have been delayed. In Tesla’s case, the company plans to bring the ‘Tesla Semi’ to production in “late 2020”.
The German company did deliver its first few electric Freightliner trucks in 2019 as part of “customer testing in North America” and they announced today that they delivered a few more electric trucks – increasing the number of electric Freightliner eCascadia trucks on the road to 6.
Freightliner also has two medium-duty eM2 trucks on the road.
Daimler describes the electric Freightliner eCascadia truck:
The Freightliner eCascadia is based on the Cascadia, the most successful heavy-duty long-distance truck (class 8, 80,000 lb. gross combined weight rating (GCWR) in the North American market. At start of series production, the eCascadia is planned to have up to 730 peak horsepower. The batteries are planned to provide 550 Kwh usable capacity, a range of up to 250 miles and have the ability to charge up to 80 percent (providing a range of 200 miles) in about 90 minutes. The Class 8 tractor is designed for local and regional distribution and drayage. The Freightliner eM2 is intended for local distribution operations and last-mile delivery services (class 6, 26,000 lb. GCWR).The eM2 truck is planned to have up to 480 peak horsepower. The batteries are planned to provide 325 Kwh of usable capacity, a range of up to 230 miles and have the ability to charge up to 80 percent (providing a range of 184 miles) in about 60 minutes.
Freightliner wants to eventually have 14 different customers testing the vehicle as part of its customer test program.
After the test program, Daimler plans to bring the eCascadia to volume production in 2021.
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