BIG NEWS OUT OF PORTLAND

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June 13, 2018 Vol. 15 No. 12

There was huge news last week as Daimler Trucks North America launched a pair of fully electric Freightliner trucks — each with impressive range — and announced the establishment of an automated-vehicle R & D center in the company’s hometown of Portland, Oregon. There was more besides, including the formation of the new global E-Mobility Group, aimed at maximizing the impact of the company’s investments and enabling the pursuit of “the best solutions in batteries, charging solutions and energy management.”

Sad to say, I couldn’t attend the busy event, but my colleague John G. Smith, editor of Today’s Trucking was on hand. If you haven’t already read about this major news, you can catch his stories on www.todaystrucking.com.

I’ll just note that the new eCascadia features up to 730 hp, with batteries that offer 550 kwh, and a range of up to 400 km. Up to 80% of the battery power can be renewed in about 90 minutes of charging, offering another 300 km of range. Those are all good numbers. It’s primarily targeting short-haul applications and port drayage work.

For the medium-duty segment, the eM2 106 offers 480 hp out of 325 kwh batteries with a 375-km range. Recharging of those batteries to 80% can be done in about 60 minutes, offering another 300 km of range. It employs regenerative braking. That truck obviously aims at local distribution, pickup and delivery, food and beverage applications, and last-mile deliveries.

The eCascadia has an 80,000-lb gross combination weight rating, while the eM2 comes in at 26,000 lb.

DTNA plans to have a 30-truck “innovation fleet” working in selected applications before the end of the year.

Elsewhere in Daimler, there’s lots of electric activity, including:

* Thomas Built Buses Saf-T-Liner C2 electric school bus, Jouley, with a range of up to 160 km that starts limited production in 2019.

* More than 100 electric vehicles built by Freightliner Custom Chassis Corp. in 2012 with supplier Electric Vehicles International (EVI) on the MT-55 walk-in van chassis are still on the roads today.

* The FUSO eCanter, a fully electric class 4 light-duty truck is in series production with electric urban delivery vehicles being delivered to various customers in North America, Asia, and Europe.

* The fully electric Mercedes-Benz Citaro bus is going into series production in late 2018.

* The recently shown Mercedes-Benz eActros is a fully electrified heavy-duty distribution truck starting test operations with the first customers in the second half of 2018.

* And then there’s the E-Fuso Vision One Class 8 truck being tested in Japan, with a range of 350 km and GCW rating of 51,000 lb.

An interesting comment on all this came from Martin Daum, former head of DTNA and now commercial vehicles chief for Daimler at large. Don’t expect any work on hybrids at DTNA.

“I’m not a big fan of hybrids,” the ever pragmatic Daum said. “For me, a hybrid gives you the worst of both worlds.” Such vehicles still include the challenges of emissions systems for combustion engines and the new technologies needed for electrification. “It’s good for the feeling but not much else.”

AND AUTOMATED RESEARCH. A key announcement last week was that Daimler Trucks will create an Automated Truck Research and Development Center in Portland, focusing on automated driving technology and its effect on society and customers alike.

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Rolf Lockwood is editor emeritus of Today's Trucking and a regular contributor to Trucknews.com.