eActros, first deliveries in Germany: Dachser and DB Schenker ready to employ the e-trucks

The very first Mercedes-Benz eActros have been handed over by Daimler Truck to a couple of important German customers, namely Dachser and DB Schenker, during a customer meeting held in Wörth am Rhein. The eActors is the first full-electric truck ever mass produced by the German group, with the beginning of mass production that already started last Autumn. Additionally, the eActros has brilliantly passed some stress tests this winter. Now, we can say the electric truck is ready to be employed.

We are very proud that an innovative logistics provider like Dachser has opted for the eActros and is showing confidence in us through an order of several vehicles including our comprehensive service

Karin Rådström, CEO Mercedes-Benz Trucks

How Dachser will use the eActros

In the Stuttgart area, Dachser delivers general cargo, especially palletized shipments that are too large and heavy for parcel shipping, with the eActros to its downtown customers. The electric truck, in conjunction with a FUSO eCanter (7.5 tons), also supplies an inner-city microhub with shipments, which are then distributed over the last mile with electrically supported cargo bikes. All general cargo shipments in a defined area (DACHSER Emission-Free Delivery) are delivered by Dachser, locally CO2 and nitrogen oxide emissions free. The eActros is only charged by green electricity at the Dachser branch in Kornwestheim.

For the application, the e-truck – an eActros 300 equipped with 3 battery packs, each of which with an installed capacity of 112 kWh and a usable capacity of 97 kWh – was configured with a 4×2 wheel formula and a box body from SPIER. «The series-production eActros is an important component of our city delivery concept DACHSER Emission-Free Delivery, which we are currently expanding to eleven European metropolitan regions», explained Stefan Hohm, Chief Development Officer of Dachser on the occasion of the handover of a first vehicle, which will replace the prototype that has been in practical trials with Dachser in Stuttgart since 2019. «The eActros has proven its everyday value in Stuttgart, especially when it comes to the emission-free delivery of palletized goods to customers. We also see some potential in shuttle traffic for the all-electric truck. We assume that the vehicle will find a wide range of applications in sustainable cargo logistics».

DB Schenker to use the eActros in the Leipzig area

Additionally, an eActros 300 has been handed over by Karin Rådström, CEO of Mercedes-Benz Trucks, to DB Schenker, another primary logistics and distribution company, which has already showed its will to buy zero-emission trucks. The vehicle was received by Cyrille Bonjean, Executive Vice President, Head of Land Transport Europe at DB Schenker and Wolfgang Janda, Executive Vice President, Head of Network & Line Haul Management at DB Schenker. DB Schenker uses the eActros to transport palletized shipments in the Leipzig area. DB Schenker had already gained extensive experience in advance with a prototype of the eActros as part of the “eActros innovation fleet”. For DB Schenker, this is not the first use of an electric truck, as the company also has more than 40 FUSO eCanter in operation in 11 European countries, including Germany, France, Finland, Italy and Spain.

«We are very pleased that DB Schenker, as one of the leading companies in the logistics industry, has chosen the Mercedes-Benz eActros. We worked closely with DB Schenker during the development of the eActros. The feedback from the practical trials were used to develop the series vehicle as well as related services», commented Karin Rådström.