MAN begins testing electric trucks

By Colin Windell 

MAN is moving ahead with its electric trucks programme and has provided nine partner companies with units to test in regular business situations.

 

Moving ahead with electric truck testing

Putting electric trucks into normal everyday use is the next step being taken by MAN Truck & Bus in the development of its programme and recently nine vehicles were handed to partner companies from the

 Austrian Council for Sustainable Logistics (CNL).

The test vehicles based on MAN TGMs are designed specifically for each customer and prepared for authentic practical testing. During the test drives, which will last for several months, the participating companies will use the vehicles in regular logistics operations.

MAN will incorporate the experience gained together with the CNL's partner companies into the continuing mass development of its electric trucks.

Joachim Drees, chairman of the Executive Board of Man Truck & Bus AG, and his board colleague Dr Ulrich Dilling, responsible for production and logistics, handed over the first electric trucks of the type MAN eTGM at the Steyr production site at nine member companies of the Austrian Council for Sustainable Logistics (CNL).

This also represented the starting point for practical tests, which will begin with immediate effect and under authentic conditions in day-to-day logistics and transport activities at CNL member companies  that include Spar.

During the hand-over ceremony, Drees said: "The time has come, the first MAN electric trucks are on the road – in everyday use by our customers. From now on, they deliver, for example, drinks, food, or vehicle parts – local emissions-free and almost silent.

“The handover of the first eTrucks is not only a special moment for the cooperation project with the CNL, but also for the 260-year company history of MAN."

CNL creator and spokesman Max Schachinger said: "We know and experience directly the development of climate and environment and we want all the more livable cities. Beyond the steps of each individual, we connect to an even greater whole and put the first E-trucks together with MAN in action: The end of the fossil age is ushered in and the future of sustainable mobility begins today."

The CNL is a unique initiative in European terms and 18 of Austria's largest retail, logistics and manufacturing firms have united to take steps forward in the area of sustainable logistics. The CNL is affiliated with the Centre for Global Change and Sustainability at Vienna University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences.

The field tests are carried out in the "Megawatt" project and supported by the Austrian Federal Government's Climate and Energy Fund as part of its ‘Lighthouses of Electric Mobility program with 3,012,648 euros.