All charged up

From cars, the e-vehicle space is moving on to bigger projects—such as heavy-duty trucks

A zero-emission truck, Canter E-Cell has a 48-kwh battery and a range of about 60 miles

DAIMLER TRUCKS, the German trucking major, has unveiled the Mercedes-Benz Urban eTruck—a prototype of the first fully-electric truck—in Stuttgart. Simply put, in the future, heavy trucks will take part in urban distribution operations with zero local emissions and hardly a whisper.

As per reports, the truck will have a weight capacity of 26 tonnes and a range of 200 km. The two brands—Daimler Trucks and Mercedes-Benz, which are both over seen by Daimler—hope to begin production int he early 2020s.

The eTruck is based on an existing three-axle Mercedes-Benz truck that typically handles shortrange deliveries. But the company replaced that truck’s drive-train with an electrically-driven rear axle that is based on the one used by the Mercedes-Benz Citaro hybrid bus. There are three lithium-ion battery modules that make up the whole battery pack and it’s located underneath where the cargo would go. That’s enough for a typical daily delivery tour.

Putting electric motors in trucks has, until now, been cost-prohibitive.And, much like with the roll out of electric cars, companies have been waiting for the battery technology to reach a certain level where range won’t be as much of a problem. But the tide has been turning and companies around the world are jumping onboard.

Daimler and Mercedes have spent the last year testing a small fleet of electric light-duty vehicles that are a lot like smaller versions of the new Urban eTruck. Apart from the Urban eTruck, another truck brand from Daimler, Fuso, has developed an electric version of its latest Canter truck. Called the Canter E-Cell, the zero-emission truck is already participating in trials in Germany and Portugal. It has a 48-kwh battery and a range of about 60 miles.

Probably the biggest surprise to come out recently from e-vehicle pioneer Elon Musk was his ‘Master Plan Part 2’, where he announced his ‘semi-truck’ that is set to be unveiled next year. Although completely in line with its mission to accelerate the advent of electric transport, it’s still a whole new business for Musk’s Tesla.

“We believe the Tesla Semi will deliver a substantial reduction in the cost of cargo transport, while increasing safety and making it really fun to operate,” Musk wrote in the second ‘Master Plan’.

Admittedly, the time it takes Tesla to go from unveiling to production and distribution is always up in the air. Tesla is the most talked about electric car companies in the country, though, and people will surely pay attention to whatever it does. It already knows how to make electric cars, has one of the most advanced autonomous systems on the road, and will soon have a ‘Gigafactory’ that will produce a good amount of batteries.

Coincidently, a new company called Nikola Motor also recently unveiled its concept for an electric truck and its plans to ‘revolutionise’ the trucking industry. Its first truck, called the ‘Nikola One’, will be equipped with a 320-kWh battery pack, which is fairly big, but most of its expected 1,200 miles of range will be achieved with a natural gas range extender.

The company, named after famed electrical engineer Nikola Tesla, plans to unveil a running prototype of its truck in Salt Lake City, Utah, on December 2. The Nikola One is fuel led with natural gas, though the turbine it uses to generate electricity can run on a variety of fuels.

Then, in April, Charge, a British-based automotive technology company and maker of smart electric trucks, entered into a partnership to become the official electric truck partner of the FIA Formula E Championship. The agreement will see Charge supplying electric trucks at Formula E events in flagship cities around the world. The trucks will be used for the driver parade and for logistics both on and off the track.

As per experts, the type of dent such electrified semi-trucks can put in emissions is immense. While 27% of US greenhouse gas emissions come from the transportation sector, medium- and heavy-duty diesel trucks create one-fifth of those emissions—that at only 5% of the vehicle count. With diesel emissions posing a huge concern for the transportation industry, electric trucks maybe are arriving at just the right moment.

WITH DIESEL EMISSIONS POSING A HUGE CONCERN FOR THE TRANSPORTATION INDUSTRY, ELECTRIC TRUCKS ARE ARRIVING AT JUST THE RIGHT MOMENT