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Electric European tour: eActros 600 reaches North Cape

A Norwegian stage was 480 km long – and the trucks still had a remaining range of 30 km.

eActros 600 on the way to the North Cape in Norway. (Photo: Daimler Truck AG)
eActros 600 on the way to the North Cape in Norway. (Photo: Daimler Truck AG)
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Claus Bünnagel

The two electric trucks of the "eActros 600 European Testing Tour 2024" by Mercedes-Benz Trucks have reached their northernmost destination after covering 4,436 kilometers purely on battery power over twelve days: the North Cape in Norway, the northernmost point in Europe accessible by road from the mainland. The two almost production-ready prototypes of the new electric flagship eActros 600 started in Frankfurt am Main on June 11 to undertake the largest test drive in the company's history. During the test tour, the two E-trucks are expected to travel through more than 20 European countries, each covering more than 13,000 km with a total train weight of 40 tons. Other highlights of the journey include the southernmost point of the European mainland: Tarifa in Spain.

480 km stage

In Norway, the longest stretch of the tour covered with a single battery charge was driven – mainly on country roads with challenging topography and despite strong winds and rainy weather. It was 480 km long, and the trucks still had a remaining range of 30 km.

Gaining Experience

Mercedes-Benz Trucks aims to gather extensive experience on various routes in different topographies and climate zones with the "eActros 600 European Testing Tour 2024" with a focus on energy consumption. The company then plans to share these insights with interested customers.

The high battery capacity of 621 kWh from three battery packs of 207 kWh each and a new, according to Daimler Truck, particularly efficient electric drive axle of their own development allow a range of the eActros 600 of 500 km without interim charging – after preconditioning with a 4x2 tractor unit and 40 t total towing weight at 20°C outside temperature in long-distance operation. The batteries are to be charged exclusively at public charging stations during the tour.

The journey has already taken it through Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland. Next destinations include, among others, the Czech Republic, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Slovenia, Italy, Monaco, France, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Netherlands, and Luxembourg.

What does that mean?

Approximately 60% of long-distance trips by Mercedes-Benz Trucks customers in Europe are shorter than 500 km, meaning that charging infrastructure at the depot and at loading and unloading points is sufficient for these cases. For all other uses, the continuous development of public charging infrastructure is an essential prerequisite to make the electric truck fully operational for pan-European long-distance traffic. In addition to CCS charging with up to 400 kW, the eActros 600 is also expected to enable megawatt charging (MCS) in the future.

In April of this year, developers from Mercedes-Benz Trucks successfully charged a prototype of the eActros 600 at a 1 MW charging station for the first time at the company's Development and Testing Center in Wörth am Rhein. Customers can order a pre-installation for MCS. Once the MCS technology is available and standardized across manufacturers, it will be retrofittable for these models of the eActros 600. The batteries can be charged from 20 to 80% in about 30 minutes at a suitable charging station with approximately 1 MW of power.

Translated automatically from German.
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