• GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS title for the longest distance driven in reverse in an articulated truck (individual)
• New e-truck travels backwards 124.7 kilometers without interruption
• Previous record in truck reversing from 2020 was around 89 kilometers (diesel truck, USA)
• At the wheel: German Armed Forces officer Marco Hellgrewe (50), initiator and holder of the record from 2008
• Record-breaking drive on closed-off route in Oschersleben, Saxony Anhalt, Germany
• Followed by 30 kilometers in reverse on public roads (planned)
• Finishing line at the new Daimler Truck Global Parts Center in Halberstadt, Germany
• Activity to raise awareness of e-mobility, road safety and driver image
  

Leinfelden-Echterdingen/Oschersleben/Halberstadt – Mercedes-Benz Trucks today set a new GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS title with its battery-electric long-haul eActros 600 truck including a semitrailer. Having reversed 124.7 kilometers means the manufacturer beat the previous world record in continuously reversing with a truck by around 36 kilometers. The former world record of some 89 kilometers had been set in the USA in 2020 in a diesel truck. The record-breaking trip in reverse was held on Motorsport Arena Oschersleben racetrack in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany; it took around 6 hours and 22 minutes, which translates into an average speed of 20 kilometers per hour. With its 14 tight bends designed for cars, the circuit is extremely demanding – but nevertheless offered fewer unpredictable risks of having to stop and thus interrupt the record attempt than public roads. 

Independently of the world record, Mercedes-Benz Trucks intends to travel another 30 kilometers or so this evening on public roads with the eActros 600 in reverse. The finishing line is at the Daimler Truck Global Parts Center in Halberstadt, also in Saxony-Anhalt. The new location will officially open on July 10th. Starting this year, it will gradually take on worldwide deliveries of spare parts for Mercedes-Benz Trucks. Mercedes-Benz Trucks wants to use the journeys in reverse to draw attention to topics of relevance to the transportation sector and society at large: Electrification, road safety and truck driver image.

Marco Hellgrewe (50) from near Berlin, Germany, an officer in the German Armed Forces and a truck enthusiast kicked off the all-electric record attempt and also drove the eActros 600 himself to take the record. Hellgrewe set his first backwards record in 2008. Back then, he covered a distance of 64 kilometers in a diesel truck. Hellgrewe also intends to be at the wheel reversing the eActros 600 on the leg to Halberstadt. The driver will take a rest before starting out on this trip, which will have a police escort. 

Marco Hellgrewe, initiator of the electric record attempt and driver of the eActros 600:
“I’m incredibly proud to have brought back the record to Germany together with Mercedes-Benz Trucks – especially as it was a world first with an all-electric drive. By doing so, we have sent out a powerful message for the future of alternative drives. I am convinced that we have also drawn broad attention to the topics of road safety and driver image that are particularly important to me as an examiner of learner truck drivers, who tend to be younger. There have been many people from every area of society, including numerous experienced and learner truck drivers, who have spoken to me about the activity and gave me very positive feedback.”

“The very long trip with a total of 476 bends demanded an enormous effort – for this reason alone, it was a great help that the eActros 600 and its assistance systems make driving so much easier. My thanks go out to Mercedes-Benz Trucks for the excellent support which made the new record possible in the first place. I am now looking forward to the next major challenge of the day: reversing the eActros 600 on public roads to the new Global Parts Center of Daimler Truck in Halberstadt,” Hellgrewe continues. 

Rainer Müller-Finkeldei, Head of Product Engineering Mercedes-Benz Trucks: “We warmly congratulate Marco Hellgrewe on his successful world-record trip and express our thanks for his great achievement as a driver. We are especially pleased that he set the new record with our all-electric powered Mercedes-Benz eActros 600. Marco Hellgrewe’s unusual trip in the service of transformation towards alternative drives will surely have a certain signaling effect for the industry and for society. In dialog with all stakeholders, specifically from the areas of politics and power supplies, we intend to continue to campaign for even more commitment to creating stronger incentives for our customers to make purchases and to promote the development of the charging infrastructure.”

Müller-Finkeldei continues: “Reversing is a central part of the day-to-day work of truck drivers and Marco Hellgrewe more than clearly showed the whole world that a great deal of concentration and ability are needed for this. Each and every day, truck drivers perform great tasks for society and this must be given corresponding recognition, too – specifically in the light of the increasing shortage of drivers. We would like to express our thanks to our partner PROFI – Pro Fahrer-Image e.V. for the support for our activity and their commitment to more appreciation for driving as a profession. Innovative technologies, such as our MirrorCam mirror camera system, played a role in winning the record. With these, we want to achieve a situation where drivers and other road users are safer when they are on the move. In addition, it is also necessary to raise awareness among road users. We thank our cooperation partner Blicki e.V. for their contribution to the activity and the untiring efforts to educate children on the hazards of road traffic. We are pleased to use the scope of the two trips in reverse to offer a platform for both organizations that, in our opinion, promote important topics for the future and to also provide the two with financial support.” 

Congratulations from the partners PROFI – Pro Fahrer-Image e.V. and Blicki e.V.

Prof. Dr. Dirk Engelhardt, Chairman of the Board of Management of PROFI – Pro Fahrer-Image e.V., commented on the record-breaking drive in reverse as follows: “We express our sincere congratulations to Marco Hellgrewe and Mercedes-Benz Trucks on the new record. We were very happy to give our support to this project because it raises the awareness of the role played by professional drivers in our society. The record provides an excellent platform to increase appreciation for this profession. The activity also shows how innovative technologies can make a positive contribution to the future of transportation.”

Dirk Hendler, Managing Director of Blicki e.V.: “Many congratulations to Marco Hellgrewe and Mercedes-Benz Trucks on the new record! This project is a great opportunity to raise awareness of road safety among children and families. We are excited to be part of this and spread our message in this way. With our nationwide workshops, funded by the German Federal Ministry of Transport and the support of Blicki ambassadors such as Hildegard Müller, President of the VDA, we have already trained more than 80,000 primary school children on how to interact with large vehicles.”

About the eActros 600

Mercedes-Benz Trucks celebrated the series launch of the eActros 600 at the end of November last year at the Mercedes-Benz plant in Wörth. Deliveries to customers began in December 2024. The electric flagship from Mercedes-Benz Trucks has already proven its capabilities several times under real-life conditions: In customer use and as part of the “eActros 600 European Testing Tour 2024”, a 15,000-kilometer all-electric development trip through a total of 22 countries and the “European Testing Tour Winter 2025” on around 6,500 kilometers through Northern Europe, each with a gross combination mass of 40 tons. In addition, the e-truck was voted “International Truck of the Year 2025”. The award is the most important prize in the industry and is presented annually by the International Truck of the Year (IToY) organization, consisting of 24 commercial vehicle journalists from Europe. 

The high battery capacity of over 600 kilowatt hours - hence the model designation 600 – and a new, particularly efficient electric drive axle developed in-house enable the eActros 600 to achieve a range of 500 kilometers^[1] without intermediate charging. This range is accomplished under very realistic and practical conditions with a gross combination mass of 40 tons, which can also be significantly exceeded depending on the driving style and the route. The eActros 600 will even be able to cover well over 1,000 kilometers per day. Intermediate charging during statutory driver breaks makes this possible, provided that charging options are available. 

The eActros 600 has three battery packs, each with 207 kWh^[2]. These offer an installed total capacity of 621 kWh. The batteries are based on lithium iron phosphate cell technology (LFP) and are characterized by a long service life. The development engineers at Mercedes-Benz Trucks designed the eActros 600 to meet the same requirements for the durability of vehicles and components as a comparable conventional heavy-duty long-haul Actros. This means up to 1.2 million kilometers in ten years of operation. After this period of use, the battery state of health should still be above 80 percent. In contrast to other battery cell technologies, more than 95 percent of the installed capacity can also be used with LFP technology. This facilitates a higher range with the same installed battery capacity. The vehicle is technically designed for a gross combination mass of up to 44 tons. With a standard semitrailer, the eActros 600 has a payload of around 22 tons in the EU. There might be cases in which national law allows higher payloads. 

About the need for charging infrastructure and the activities of Daimler Truck

For the fastest possible ramp-up of locally CO2-neutral road freight transportation with battery-electric trucks, the charging infrastructure is one of the pivotal points. However, there is still a lot to catch up on. There are currently fewer than 1,000 charging points for heavy commercial vehicles across Europe. To at least partially compensate for the existing deficit, Daimler Truck announced a concept for its own semi-public charging network in March of this year. It is planned to extend to over 3,000 fast charging points in Europe by 2030, making it the largest in Europe. The new semi-public charging option for electric trucks, as a solution provided by the Daimler Truck brand TruckCharge, is intended to enable depots to open their charging infrastructure for third-party paid use. This is planned to be a supplement to the public charging services offered by Milence, among other providers. Milence was founded in July 2022 as a joint venture between Daimler Truck, the TRATON GROUP and the Volvo GROUP and has set itself the goal of setting up and operating 1,700 high-performance public charging points in Europe by 2027.

About Daimler Truck’s new Global Parts Center

Since the foundation stone was officially laid in autumn 2023, the Daimler Truck Global Parts Center has grown at a rapid pace on a site of around 900,000 square meters in the “Industriepark Ost” business park of Halberstadt, Germany. The new building will have a built-up gross floor area of around 270,000 square meters and will serve around 20 regional logistics centers worldwide in a three-stage logistics process – for example in various European countries, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Brazil or China. These in turn will supply the regional dealers with the parts. Halberstadt will thus become the heart of the worldwide spare parts supply chain of Mercedes-Benz Trucks. 

About using electronic helpers to protect road users

One of Mercedes-Benz Trucks’ high standards is for drivers and other road users to be safer on the road. To this end, the assistance systems available in the various model series assist drivers in recognizing dangers early, breaking in good time and keeping an overview of the traffic situation, among other things. In particular, the electronic helpers can help minimize the consequences of moments of inattentiveness, such as due to fatigue, stress or distraction, for everyone involved. Whether Active Brake Assist 6, Active Sideguard Assist 2, Front Guard Assist, Active Drive Assist 3, Traffic Sign Assist or Attention Assist, for example: With security features like these, the company underpins its position as one of the pioneers in the industry. 

With all assistance systems, Mercedes-Benz Trucks pursues the goal of supporting the driver in driving the vehicle as well as possible within the system’s limits. However, as stipulated by law, drivers always remain fully responsible for the safe operation of the vehicle.

The MirrorCam, the mirror camera system developed by Mercedes-Benz Trucks that played an important role for the reverse driving record can contribute to mastering situations such as overtaking, maneuvering, driving in poor visibility and darkness, cornering and passing through narrow spaces even more safely and stress-free. Wide-angle mode when maneuvering in reverse, distance lines on the display for better estimation of the distance to objects behind the vehicle being driven, swiveling of the camera image when cornering or monitoring the vehicle’s surroundings during breaks are further helpful functions. The interaction of the MirrorCam with Sideguard Assist from Mercedes-Benz Trucks, especially in complex traffic situations and confusing intersection areas, can also help to reduce the severity of dangerous situations. Sideguard Assist uses the display of the MirrorCam for the visual warnings.

About Blicki

According to Blicki, every 20 minutes a child is involved in a traffic accident in Germany. Blicki e.V. is committed to the safety of children. With Blicki, the kangaroo mascot, and the support of Blicki’s ambassadors, such as Hildegard Müller, President of the VDA, the non-profit association has already educated more than 80,000 primary school children throughout Germany on how to navigate road traffic. It is supported by a broad alliance of partners: www.blicki-blickts.de/support 

About PROFI

PROFI acts as an ambassador for drivers. The association improves the image of the profession, promotes young talent and fights for better working conditions. As a link between politics, business and drivers, it increases visibility, appreciation and safety. PROFI is present at important industry and job fairs and uses digital channels to raise awareness of the working and living environment of drivers – for a strong future of the driver’s profession!

_{[1] The range was determined internally under specific test conditions, after preconditioning with a 4x2 tractor unit with a 40 tons total towing weight at 20°C outside temperature in long-haul operation and may deviate from the values determined in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2017/2400. 
[2] Nominal capacity of a new battery, based on internally defined boundary conditions. This may vary depending on the application and ambient conditions.}