2021 Freightliner eCascadia

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FRANKFURT/PORTLAND, Ore. — Daimler AG unveiled on Wednesday an all-electric big rig truck it promises to have in production in 2021, as the German automaker mounts a major challenge to European manufacturers and Tesla.

Daimler said its Freightliner eCascadia, with a range of up to 250 miles (400 km) and an 80,000 lb (36 tonne) gross combined weight, will be suitable for regional distribution and port shipments.

Daimler also unveiled a medium-duty Freightliner eM2 106, with a range of up to 230 miles, designed for local distribution, food and beverage delivery, and "final-mile" logistics services.

Daimler said it will deliver 30 vehicles to customers later this year for field-testing and expects to have the trucks in production by 2021.

Tesla has said it expects to begin production of its all-electric Semi in 2019. Other truckmakers, including Navistar International and its partner Volkswagen AG , also are working on similar models.

Industry analysts believe the main market for such trucks could be China.

A heavy-duty commercial truck runs up to 100,000 miles a year, and Tesla has promised a 20-percent saving on current per-mile operating costs.

Analysts have said truck operating costs continue to fluctuate, and Tesla's projected savings may not be so great. There are also concerns about the charging infrastructure and operating range of electric trucks, which could be much less than current diesel-engine models.

The announcement came after Daimler's trucks division said it has set up a research and development center for autonomous driving in the United States, the latest sign of the German manufacturer's commitment to getting self-driving freight trucks on the road.

Engineers at the new facility in Portland, Oregon, will draw on R&D resources at Daimler Trucks operations in Germany and India to create a global network of hundreds of specialists in the autonomous driving sphere, the company said on Wednesday.

Stuttgart-based Daimler will invest more than 2.5 billion euros ($2.9 billion) in R&D at its truck operations by 2019, with more than 500 million euros earmarked for electric heavy-duty commercial vehicles, connectivity and self-driving technology, including the new Portland facility, it said.

"We are pioneering technologies across the automated vehicle spectrum that make roads safer and help trucking companies boost productivity," said Sven Ennerst, head of truck product engineering at Daimler.

The announcement was made during the Daimler Trucks Capital Market and Technology Day at Portland where the division already has a significant R&D presence including a heavy-duty truck wind tunnel.

Daimler also plans to expand its lineup of battery-powered trucks to help comply with tougher emissions rules in Europe, said Martin Daum, head of the division.

Serial production of the eActros truck with an operating range of up to 200 kilometers (125 miles) will start in 2021, said Ennerst, citing tests with other models including the eFuso and eCanter trucks.

A presentation revealed that Daimler has plans for more than a dozen further electrified trucks worldwide, including the new eCascadia model for North America to compete with Tesla's planned long-distance Semi electric truck.

Separately, Daimler Trucks expects a strong second half of the year but second-quarter business remains challenging, its finance chief said, citing problems in the supply chain.

"We are currently facing some problems on the supply chain. We will not lose a single truck but some (trucks) might be invoiced in Q3," Jochen Goetz said.

A new efficiency program will not be needed, Goetz said, adding the truckmaker would focus on executing its previous savings plan and aim to lower costs by 1.4 billion euros as planned by 2019.

Source: Autoblog

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First eCascadia Models Set to Begin Commercial Operations

Transport Topics  /  August 12, 2019

Daimler Trucks North America announced Penske Truck Leasing and NFI will be the first companies to employ its battery-electric eCascadia in commercial operations.

Penske Truck Leasing is based in Reading , Pa. , and NFI has headquarters in Cherry Hill , N.J. Both are members of the Freightliner Electric Vehicle Council and earlier were the first to be given trucks to test.

The initial customer shipments are the first heavy-duty additions to the 30-vehicle Freightliner Innovation Fleet. They were built at its research and development center in Portland, Oregon.

The eCascadias — built on the foundation of the Freightliner Cascadia, the best-selling Class 8 heavy-duty truck on the market — are destined for the Southern California operations of both companies and will arrive later in August. Additional deliveries of the Freightliner Electric Innovation Fleet will continue throughout 2019. according to Portland-based DTNA.

“Our team is incredibly proud to be leading the way for the industry, but prouder still to be working with our customers in a process of co-creation to make real electric trucks for real work in the real world,” Roger Nielsen, CEO of DTNA, said in a company release.

DTNA’s Electric Vehicle Council brings together 38 Freightliner customers to identify and address potential hurdles to large-scale deployment of commercial battery-electric vehicles. Issues at the forefront of the discussion include charging infrastructure, partnerships with other parties in the e-mobility value chain, vehicle specifications and vehicle use case.

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[kscarbel2]

First Electric Freightliner eCascadia Models Enter Freight Operations at NFI, Penske

Transport Topics  /  August 22, 2019

YOUNTVILLE, California — Daimler Trucks North America has handed over its first two battery-electric Freightliner eCascadia models to NFI and Penske Truck Leasing for use in their daily freight operations.

These Class 8 tractors will begin hauling cargo in Southern California, but more significantly, they will help pave the way for the full commercialization of electric-powered trucks in North America .

DTNA celebrated the milestone Aug. 20 here at Cliff Lede Vineyards with executives from NFI and Penske and members of the trade press.

“This is revolutionary. This is the start of a major change in the way companies will operate in the future,” Sid Brown, NFI’s CEO, told Transport Topics at the event.

“You don’t get a chance too often in your lifetime to be at the forefront of a technological revolution,” he added.

Richard Howard, DTNA’s senior vice president of sales and marketing, said the first eCascadias were the result of a “co-creation” process between the truck maker and its fleet customers, and hailed the official handoff of the trucks to NFI and Penske as “an extremely special moment.”

The heavy-duty eCascadia and its smaller sibling, the medium-duty eM2, are slated to enter series production in late 2021.

Ahead of that broader rollout, NFI and Penske are acting as pioneers by deploying the first iterations of those vehicles in real-world operating conditions.

These initial test trucks, dubbed the Freightliner Electric Innovation Fleet, will enable DTNA and the fleets to build knowledge about how best to implement the technology.

DTNA plans to expand this test fleet to a total of 20 eCascadias and 10 eM2s, a target the manufacturer aims to achieve by the end of this year, said Andreas Juretzka, director of product development for e-mobility.

“We are excited,” he said. “We are hoping for so much feedback so we can tune it into our future product.”

Juretzka also characterized these first steps toward commercial vehicle electrification, particularly in the Class 8 segment, as a “huge moment” for the industry.

Advances in battery technology have created a real chance for electric propulsion to eventually overtake internal combustion engines, he said.

But the integration of electric vehicles into trucking operations will be a long journey.

“This is just the first small step,” said Michael Scheib, director of e-mobility platform at DTNA. “This is going to be a long and winding road until we scale up this technology to make it mainstream in this industry.”

In the near term, electric trucks will be best suited to shorter routes.

NFI plans to put its eCascadias to work in port drayage operations, hauling freight between the Los Angeles-Long Beach port complex and warehouses in Southern California, where air quality requirements are set to become much more stringent.

To meet those targets, “you have to go big,” said Matt Miyasato, deputy executive officer for science and technology advancement at the South Coast Air Quality Management District, which partially funded the Innovation Fleet with a nearly $16 million grant.

The greater Los Angeles region suffers from the worst air quality in the nation, Miyasato said, highlighting the value of zero-emission trucks for that region.

“From an environmental standpoint, this is absolutely the best way to go,” NFI’s Brown said.

For Penske Truck Leasing, operating the eCascadias and eM2s will enable the company to build expertise in this emerging technology and share that knowledge with its truck leasing customers.

“We are always evaluating the latest technology because our customers are demanding that from us, so we want to make sure we understand what is out there and what is available,” said Paul Rosa, senior vice president of procurement and fleet planning at Penske Truck Leasing. “We’re just over the moon about the opportunity to put a vehicle like this in the hands of our logistics team.”

Penske plans to utilize its eCascadias in dedicated shorthaul applications in Southern California.

“This is going to transform the industry,” Rosa said. “When drivers get a chance to get into this type of vehicle, they’re not going to want to go into something else.”

NFI’s Brown said his company’s fleet is an ideal fit for electrification because the vast majority of its vehicles return to base each day.

Looking ahead, Brown believes further improvements in battery technology will expand the range of electric trucks in the coming years, which would clear the way for further adoption.

“I see by 2025, about 60% of our fleet will probably be electric,” Brown said. “We’re a big believer.”

He also envisions installing solar panels at NFI’s warehouses to help power its future fleet of electric trucks.

In addition to the environmental impact, Brown believes electric trucks could ease the burden on maintenance shops and help address the technician shortage because the vehicles have far fewer parts than diesel trucks — and none of the diesel aftertreatment systems.

Electric trucks also run much more quietly than diesels, which could allow trucks to operate at warehouses during the night without noise violations, and therefore take some truck traffic off the road during the day, he said.

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UPS Moves Down Electric Truck Path with New eCascadia

Heavy Duty Trucking (HDT)  /  August 20, 2020

UPS is not one to shy away from emerging technology, especially when it comes to lowering its carbon footprint. Recently, the package delivery and supply chain management provider dipped its toes a little deeper into the electric truck market with the acquisition of a Freightliner eCascadia battery-electric Class 8 truck.

“UPS remains very committed to electrifying its fleet, and this vehicle is the first battery-electric heavy-duty class 8 truck to be deployed for testing within the UPS global fleet,” said Scott Phillippi, senior director of maintenance and engineering, international operations, at UPS.

With roughly 1,000 electric or hybrid-electric vehicles already in operation in cities around the world, UPS expects to continue to proactively “lead the charge” on electrification of medium-duty vehicles over the next five years, Phillippi told HDT.

The long-term lease of the eCascadia, which will be working out of the company’s Anaheim, California, location, was part of a collaborative effort between UPS, Daimler Trucks North America, Freightliner, and Penske, with the support of California's South Coast Air Quality Management District. The testing will provide real-world experience of the use of heavy-duty battery-electric trucks for UPS.   

“We’ll be measuring the range as well as evaluating the vehicle’s reliability, design and integration into our fleet over the next year,” said Phillippi.

Anaheim was chosen because of the convenience for charging, since it is located close to a Penske depot with electric charging capabilities. Also, there are currently more electric charging stations in California than any other state.

Phillippi and his team have a number of questions they would like answered by the testing, including:

• What exactly is the range?

• How reliable is it?

• Does the design work for us or what would need to be modified?

• How does this vehicle integrate into our fleet?

UPS has tested a number of different alternative fuels and drivetrains in its fleet, including three Toyota and Kenworth jointly developed fuel cell electric heavy-duty truck, which was announced last April.

The carrier also plans to test the Tesla Semi, according to Phillippi. “We’re hoping to begin getting these semis at the end of next year.” UPS preordered 125 of the Tesla electric Class 8 trucks in December 2017.

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[james j neiweem]

What about hyllion electric repower of semi trucks.  Seems promising. I think they are working with Freightliner and others.

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2 minutes ago, james j neiweem said:

What about hyllion electric repower of semi trucks.  Seems promising. I think they are working with Freightliner and others.

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