Flörsheim am Main – Mercedes-Benz Trucks has sent another fully-electric eActros onto the streets: the heavy-duty truck will now be put through its paces by Rigterink Logistikgruppe in regular operations; primarily transporting foodstuffs in the inner-city traffic of Frankfurt am Main, Wiesbaden, Mainz and numerous other municipalities in the Rhine-Main area. The daily distance from the Rigterink logistics premises in Flörsheim am Main to supermarket branches and various central logistics centres of supermarket chains is around 200 km. The route will be driven once a day by the 25-tonne truck, making full use of its range of around 200 km with a single charge. The batteries will be charged overnight.

The energy powering the eActros comes from lithium-ion batteries with a capacity of 240 kWh. Depending on the available capacity, fully charging takes around two hours (at 150 kW). The truck features a refrigerated swap-body from Schmitz Cargobull, which allows for energy-efficient transport of the chilled produce.

Rigterink is one of 20 customers from various sectors who have integrated the electric truck into their fleets. Each of these selected customers will operate a near-series version of either the 18 or 25-tonne variant for around a year and will test the respective vehicle for its suitability in daily operations. The aim is to make emission-free and quiet driving in urban areas possible with heavy-duty trucks from 2021 onward. The test series is broken down into two phases, each with ten customers. The first eActros of the so-called “innovation fleet” is in operation with a customer since September 2018.

The development and testing of the heavy-duty electric truck in short-radius distribution operations is sponsored as part of the "Concept ELV²" project to varying degrees by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment (BMUB) and the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi).