MERCEDES-BENZ eACTROS AND GENH2 TRUCK DOUBLE-UP INNOVATION
The latest electro-mobility solutions from Mercedes-Benz Trucks have won the 2021 Truck Innovation Award.
The prestigious 2021 Truck Innovation Award has been given to two trucks from Mercedes-Benz: the battery-electric eActros and the hydrogen-based fuel-cell electric concept MercedesBenz GenH2 Truck.
Twenty-five commercial vehicle editors and senior journalists, representing major international trucking magazines, who are members of the International Truck of the Year (ITOY) jury, awarded Mercedes-Benz’s electric trucks a winning score of
128 votes, beating the Volvo heavy-duty BEV concepts and DAF’s second-generation CF Electric.
The Truck Innovation
Award acknowledges both the enormous technological changes and the energy transitions that are taking place within the automotive sector. According to ITOY rules, a Truck Innovation Award nominee must be an advanced-technology vehicle with a gross vehicle weight over 3.5-tonnes either fitted with an alternative driveline or have an alternative fuel system. Otherwise, it must feature specific high-tech solutions with regard to connectivity (whether semi or fully autonomous driving systems) a ‘platooning’ capability, or advanced support services such as remote diagnostics.
“Shaping CO2-neutral transport requires the swift development of batteryelectric and fuel cell trucks,” said ITOY chairman Gianenrico Griffini. “This development needs to be supported by a long-term electro-mobility strategy, which is precisely what Mercedes-Benz Trucks is doing.”
The ITOY jury, who had the chance to get to know the previous prototype of the eActros and the latest nearproduction vehicle, praised the handling characteristics of the battery-powered truck in distribution applications and its performance in terms of acceleration and driveability. Moreover, the jury praised the user-friendliness for a quick and easy transition from a conventional internal combustion engine vehicle.
Finally, the ITOY jury members appreciated the comprehensive approach Mercedes-Benz Trucks has taken to electromobility, based on a clear-cut longterm strategy, on a global modular electric powertrain platform and on in-house development of main critical components. It’s a widerange solution portfolio, which spans from the pre-production eActros to the batterypowered eActros Long Haul, to the fuel cell liquid-hydrogen concept GenH2 Truck for long haulage applications.
Martin Daum, chairman of the board of management of Daimler Truck AG and member of the board of management of Daimler
AG, said the company was honoured and proud that the ITOY jury had recognised the eActros and GenH2
Truck with the 2021 Truck Innovation Award.
“This is strong affirmation that we’re on the right track with our strategy clearly focusing on genuinely locally CO2-neutral technologies: battery power and hydrogenbased fuel cells.
“This combination enables us to offer our customers the best vehicle options, depending on the application. With the eActros, we have demonstrated in recent years that locally CO2-neutral urban distribution is already possible today. And with our GenH2 Truck, we have additionally presented our specific concept for heavy-duty fuelcell trucks to perform flexible and demanding long-distance haulage.”
The eActros battery-electric heavy-duty truck is planned to go into series production in 2021. It will have a range exceeding 200km. The hydrogen-based fuel cell electric concept MercedesBenz GenH2 Truck is planned to start operational customer trials in 2023. MercedesBenz says it will have a range of more than 1000km in series production version, planned for the second half of this decade.