Atlanta - Dachser, a leading global logistics provider, announces it is launching test operations with Mercedes-Benz eActros, an all-electric 18-ton truck, in Stuttgart, Germany, where Dachser is testing its city logistics concept, DACHSER Emission-Free Delivery program. Joining two other types of vehicles with alternative powertrain technologies the eActros rounds out Dacher’s vehicle mix for the company’s emission-free deliveries in Stuttgart.
As soon as requisite training is complete, Dachser plans to integrate the eActros into its ongoing test operations in Stuttgart city center. As with the all-electric 7.5-ton FUSO eCanter, the truck will be used in professional driver training.
“We’ll be using the eActros for transporting deliveries both directly to customers and to the microhub in the Heslach district of Stuttgart. And for the last mile, we’ll use pedelecs, electrically assited cargo bikes that are also part of our emission-free vehicle portfolio,” Markus Maurer, General Manager of Dachser’s Kornwestheim branch.
The eActros has a payload of 4 to 5 metric tons, depending on the design, and offers space for 18 pallets. With a range of 125 miles, it is ideal for daily delivery transports in and around Stuttgart city center. Its 240 kWh lithium-ion batteries charge in two hours at 150 kW. According to the Mercedes-Benz Trucks division, the prototype is set to go into large-scale production in 2021.
Electric vehicle mix for city distribution
With its innovative city logistics concept known as DACHSER Emission-Free Delivery, Dachser is providing emission-free deliveries of groupage shipments in downtown Stuttgart. The company plans to roll out the concept in other city centers. In December 2018, Dachser won Germany’s national competition for sustainable urban logistics, organized by the Federal Ministry for the Environment and the German Environment Agency.
Dachser operates two other types of vehicles with alternative powertrain technologies in Stuttgart, each with its own strengths: maneuverable, electrically assisted cargo bikes, which are used for the last mile, and a compact, all-electric 7.5-ton FUSO eCanter truck, which will also be based in the city center. With the addition of the 18-ton eActros, the all-electric vehicle mix is now complete.
In conducting these test operations, Dachser is gathering the data and experience it needs to determine the right vehicle mix for sustainable deliveries of groupage shipments to city centers. In addition to Stuttgart, tests are also underway in Berlin, Freiburg, Karlsruhe, Cologne, Málaga, Mannheim, Paris, Tübingen, and Ulm.
“We’re not looking to take a one-size-fits-all approach; instead, we want to come up with a range of solutions, each of them focused on optimizing deliveries, routes, and times,” says Stefan Hohm, Corporate Director, Corporate Solutions, Research & Development at Dachser. Hohm heads the City Distribution innovation project.
