Mercedes-Benz Trucks has started a new phase of testing the Mercedes eActros, one of its two electric trucks that it currently manufactures in series. A new testing phase as a consequence of having been approved to circulate as a road trainie as a rigid truck with a trailer with a total weight of 40 tons.
The Logistik Schmitt company will be the first to test this new configuration of the electric Mercedes eActros, which is now available to all customers interested in purchasing it. As part of these tests, the eActros will be dedicated to transporting transmission cases and axle components for Daimler Truck between Rastatt and Gaggenau (Germany), covering up to 300 kilometers daily carrying out this work.
According to German law, in order to tow trailers weighing more than 10 tonnes, road train tractors must have a continuous braking system. In the eActros, this continuous braking system is provided by a trailer brake (High Power Brake Resistor or HPR) specially developed for battery electric vehicles.
In the case of the truck that works for Logistik Schmitt, an eActros 300 6×2, it comes equipped with a Rockinger trailer hitch. The trailer in question has a length of 7,280 mm and a maximum authorized mass (MMA) of 18 tons. Adding it to the rigid part, the truck reaches 40 tons of gross weight.
As for the technical section, the Mercedes-Benz eActros can be configured with three (eActros 300) or four battery packs (eActros 400). Each pack has a usable capacity of 97 kWh (112 kWh installed), so the eActros 300 has 291 kWh of total capacity and the eActros 400 reaches 388 kWh of usable capacity. With all four battery packs, the eActros 400 has a range of up to 400 kilometers per charge.
DC charging supports 160 kW of maximum power; the version with three battery packs needs just over an hour to charge from 20 to 80% in a charging station capable of providing that power. The version with four packages needs about an hour and a half for the same process. As usual in most electric vehicles, it has regenerative braking to charge the battery during decelerations. As for the propeller, mount two electric motors with 330 kW (449 hp) continuous power and 400 kW (544 hp) of maximum power.
The Mercedes-Benz eActros has been in series production since October 2021 at the plant in Wörth (Germany), where the Mercedes-Benz eEconic is also produced. The latter uses the same technology and platform as the eActros, but has a more compact size and is mainly designed for municipal tasks such as garbage collection.
