Introducing the eActros 300
30 June 2021 was a seriously important day in trucking – because that’s when Mercedes-Benz Trucks celebrated the world premiere of its battery-electric eActros for heavy-duty short-radius distribution. The first series-produced electric truck to bear a three-pointed star had been in development for quite some time; its forerunner was first seen at the 2016 IAA for commercial vehicles in Hannover, Germany. Back then, we were introduced to what was a super cool concept vehicle.
In 2018, prototypes of the eActros were handed over to various customers in Germany and other European countries for practical testing. On 28 February 2022, the first all-electric series-produced eActros from the Mercedes-Benz plant in Wörth am Rhein was handed over to a customer, namely logistics service provider DB Schenker.
The truck in a nutshell
The full all-electric truck from Mercedes-Benz, the eActros is aimed at local CO2 neutral heavy-duty urban distribution transport where a range of 300 or 400 km is acceptable. (The eActros 300 has a range of 300 km while the eActros 400 has … yup, you guessed it… a range of 400 km.) The battery electric eActros has been approved as a truck-and-trailer combination with a total weight of 40 tonnes but the truck we drove had a total weight of 27 tonnes and a payload of 17,6 tonnes.
Exterior
It looks like…you guessed it again…a regular Actros. Of course, our test truck had “charged and ready” scribbled all over it – so, even if you’re from another planet, you’d probably figure out that it’s an e-truck.
Interior
The interior is the same nice place as per an Actros with an internal combustion engine. The big difference, of course, is the dashboard. Thanks to the Multimedia Cockpit, the driver remains constantly up to date with the charge level of the batteries and the remaining range, as well as the current and average energy consumption. This should go some way towards alleviating range anxiety with drivers who are new to an electric vehicle.
The truck isn’t just user friendly for drivers. Fleet managers can use the Fleetboard portal's digital solutions to efficiently control their fleet. This includes such things as an individually developed Charge Management System for creating charging profiles, and a logbook containing detailed information on driving times, downtimes and charging breaks.
There is also a mapping tool which shows the vehicle's current location in real-time, as well as whether it is in motion, parked or being charged, not to mention how high the battery charge is.
Drivetrain
This truck is, quite simply, fantastic to drive. But first some facts and figures. The eActros’ batteries can consist of either three (eActros 300) or four battery packs (eActros 400), each of which has an installed capacity of 112 kWh and a usable capacity of around 97 kWh.
The technological heart of the electric truck is its drive unit, which consists of a rigid electric axle with two integrated electric motors and a two-speed transmission. The two liquid-cooled motors deliver a continuous output of 330 kW and a peak output of 400 kW. In addition, as is typically the case with electric vehicles, electrical energy can be recovered by means of recuperation. The energy recovered by braking is fed back into the eActros’ batteries and is then again available for powering the vehicle. The eActros can be charged with up to 160 kW. At a conventional DC fast charging station with a charging current of 400A, the three battery packs take a little more than one hour to charge from 20% of capacity to 80%.
I mentioned that it’s fantastic to drive. Why? Well, the two integrated electric motors have a high efficiency and provide constant power delivery with a high starting torque. The torque immediately provided by the electric motors, and the two-speed transmission, ensure powerful acceleration, impressive driving comfort and driving dynamics that enable more relaxed, lower-stress driving than a conventional diesel-powered truck. In addition, the low centre of gravity improves cornering.
The interior noise level has been reduced by 10 dB — roughly corresponding to a halving of the perceptible noise level — which means that it is super quiet in the cab. You can even hear the tyres on the road. In contrast to a diesel truck, there is also considerably less vibration.
Safety
You name it, the eActros has it. The safety equipment includes the external Acoustic Vehicle Alerting System (this ensures the vehicle is easier for road users like pedestrians and cyclists to hear); the fifth-generation Active Brake Assist with pedestrian detection; and the S1R turning assistant. For the visual warnings, the turning assistant uses the MirrorCam display, which is installed in the eActros in the place of conventional mirrors.
The second-generation mirror camera system, which has been available since April 2022, is even better than before. That’s thanks to, among other things, the shorter camera arms (10 cm has been snipped off) and vastly improved imagery (the display is much, much better).
There are also special crash elements with an aluminium profile to protect the batteries in the event of a side-on crash, while sensors integrated into these can detect a crash scenario. In such a case, the high-voltage (HV) battery would be automatically isolated from the rest of the vehicle. What's more, the driver always has the option of actuating the HV shutoff at any time in the cab.
Verdict
This is an amazing – but costly – truck. We don’t know exactly what it will cost when it is launched in South Africa. But, rest assured, it will be a lot more expensive than its diesel-powered sibling. It’s still relatively early days when it comes to e-mobility and, for now, the trucks come at a premium. Having said this, Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) parity is just around the corner – or so we are told. If and when this is proven to local operators, we have no doubt that South African transport operators will snap up the truck. Once they’ve overcome their range anxiety, drivers will love it. And, if the TCO is acceptable to transport operators, they will love it too.
This will undoubtedly happen. The question simply is when.
