Daimler Trucks is launching another eight fully-electric Freightliner trucks for customer testing in North America. Over a period of 22 months, 14 different customers from a range of sectors will operate six heavy-duty Freightliner eCascadia and two medium-duty Freightliner eM2 106 within their daily transport business.

The Customer Experience (CX) fleet from Daimler Trucks North America (DTNA) joins the innovation fleet of 30 Freightliner electric trucks that have been in operation since 2018 and absolved more than 160.000 cumulative kilometres.

The Freightliner fully electric eCascadia is based on the fossil-fuelled Cascadia that Daimler Trucks says is the most successful heavy-duty long-distance truck on the North American market. With the begin of series production, the eCascadia should have up to 730 peak horsepower and batteries with 550 Kwh usable capacity, a range of up to 250 miles and have the ability to charge up to 80 per cent (providing a range of 200 miles) in about 90 minutes.

The Freightliner eM2 has been made for local distribution logistics and last-mile delivery services. The eM2 truck should have up to 480 peak horsepower and batteries with 325 Kwh of usable capacity. The electric delivery truck promises a range of up to 230 miles and the ability to charge up to 80 per cent (providing a range of 184 miles) in about 60 minutes.

Last year in April, Daimler Trucks North America (DTNA) announced its plan to convert their Portland plant in Oregon for the production of electric trucks under Freightliner banner this year. At the time, DTNA said that serial production of the eM2 and eCascadia models is set to start in 2021. Daimler presented the eM2 and eCascadia for the first time in mid-2018.

The market launch for both the Freightliner eCascadia and the eM2 truck is scheduled for late 2021.

daimler.com