Dachser Orders 50 Mercedes-Benz eActros LongHaul

The logistics service provider Dachser plans to add 50 units of the long-distance truck Mercedes-Benz eActros LongHaul, presented at this year’s IAA Transportation, to its European fleet. The globally operating company from Kempten has signed a letter of intent with Mercedes-Benz Trucks for this purpose.

(Stuttgart/Kempten) Dachser intends to deploy the eActros LongHaul in the configuration as a 6×2 swap body vehicle with a loading height of 1,120mm. This significantly expands Dachser’s electric vehicle fleet. The electric truck, with a range of around 500 km on a single battery charge, is expected to reach series production readiness in 2024.

Stina Fagerman, Head of Marketing, Sales and Services at Mercedes-Benz Trucks: “Dachser is a very valuable customer for us in terms of sustainable transport. Already during the development of the eActros 300/400 for heavy distribution transport, Dachser was an engaged testing partner. We are even more pleased that the logistics company now wants to rely on the eActros LongHaul in the next step, which reinforces us in our E-strategy.”

Alexander Tonn, Chief Operating Officer (COO) Road Logistics at Dachser, says: “With this letter of intent, we underline our commitment to the development and testing of environmentally friendly commercial vehicle drives. The long range of the eActros LongHaul will enable us to transport goods emissions-free even in heavy payload transport and long-distance transport between our European locations. This is an important building block of Dachser’s long-term climate protection strategy.”

Already Electric in City Logistics

Dachser has been using battery-electric vehicles such as the FUSO eCanter and the eActros since 2018 as part of the sustainable city delivery concept “DACHSER Emission-Free Delivery.” In eleven European metropolises, the battery-electric transporters and trucks deliver all shipments locally CO2-neutral within a defined city area as standard. On the last mile, Dachser additionally uses electrically assisted cargo bikes to distribute the shipments. The pilot project in Stuttgart was awarded the “Sustainable Urban Logistics” competition by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment and the Federal Environment Agency in 2018.

“We have had very good experiences with the performance of the BEV vehicles in city logistics. Therefore, it was logical to take the next step – long-distance transport – together with Mercedes-Benz Trucks,” says Stefan Hohm, Chief Development Officer (CDO) at Dachser.

The eActros LongHaul

The development engineers at Mercedes-Benz Trucks design the eActros LongHaul for the same durability requirements for the vehicle and components as a comparable conventional heavy-duty long-distance Actros. This means 1.2 million kilometers of mileage over ten years of operation. The eActros LongHaul uses batteries with lithium iron phosphate cell technology (LFP). These are characterized primarily by a long lifespan and more usable energy. The batteries of the eActros LongHaul can be charged from 20 to 80 percent in significantly under 30 minutes at a charging station with about one megawatt of power. Three battery packs provide a total installed capacity of over 600 kWh, and two electric motors as part of a new e-axle generate a continuous power output of 400 kW and a peak power of over 600 kW.

Also Chassis Variants

In addition to the tractor unit, Mercedes-Benz Trucks will also produce chassis variants of the eActros LongHaul directly from market launch. This offers customers numerous additional applications in fully electric transport.

Photo: © Mercedes-Benz Truck