16.07.2025 | Sustainability
With an impressive backdrop, the symbolic starting signal for an ambitious endeavor was given on Monday, July 14, 2025: In the dispatch hall of the Wörth plant, 14 fully electric eActros 600 trucks are lined up side by side. Their mission: to gradually electrify the logistics chain for supplying the Wörth, Gaggenau, Mannheim, and Kassel plants, making it locally CO₂e-free.
The project ‘Electrify Inbound Logistics’ plays a key role in the decarbonization of the logistics chain: for the first time, international long-haul routes used to supply the plants will be operated with battery-electric trucks. A milestone for Daimler Truck on its journey toward greater sustainability - a true lighthouse project within the company’s sustainability strategy.
The project ‘Electrify Inbound Logistics’ is a special milestone. Today, we are writing a piece of history for an emissions-free future.
Achim Puchert – Member of the Board of Management of Daimler Truck Holding AG, responsible for Mercedes-Benz Trucks and BharatBenz
The significance of the project is also emphasized by Oliver Berger – Head of Network Strategy and Sustainability Inbound Logistics, Mercedes-Benz Trucks: “With our project, we have set the ambitious goal of gradually electrifying the transport of production materials to our plants. We aim to lead the way and demonstrate that e-mobility in road freight transport already works in everyday practice today.”
That this is already possible is demonstrated by the symbolic convoy departure at the Wörth site. With loud honking, the 14 eActros 600 trucks from various logistics companies depart the dispatch hall of the Wörth plant, heading in all directions across Germany and Europe. A goosebump moment showing: the transformation towards locally CO₂e-free long-distance transport in real-world operations has begun.
The convoy departure is just the visible highlight of the ambitious and sustainably oriented project ‘Electrify Inbound Logistics’. So far, approximately 40 regional routes have utilized the Mercedes-Benz eActros 300 and 400 battery-electric models for heavy-duty distribution transport. Now comes the next step: with the deployment of the Mercedes-Benz eActros 600, long-distance routes can now also be electrified. The 14 different logistics partners from Germany, Austria, Italy, and the Czech Republic supply the plants via various routes across Germany and Europe. The longest route, at nearly 600 kilometers, runs from Bolzano (South Tyrol) to Wörth, an essential component of a holistically conceived, locally CO₂e-free value chain.
However, according to Ann-Kathrin Freydag from the Supply Chain Planning Powertrain / Component Plants department, the event at the Wörth site is an important milestone on the path to electrifying inter-plant supplier and production transports. Since the project has been planned across all sites from the very beginning, synergies can be leveraged, for example in route planning, vehicle utilization, and charging infrastructure.
From the start, it was clear that this would be a complex project. How the implementation with logistics partners was achieved is explained by Christoph Kattner from the Inbound Logistics project team:
“Since all parties involved had little experience with e-mobility in logistics at the project’s outset, we always aimed to approach the journey in close partnership with our logistics providers. In hindsight, this collaboration worked extremely well. Nevertheless, there were challenges, particularly at the start, for instance, with the charging infrastructure. These were overcome through effective coordination within the team and alignment with other departments and external partners.”
That the project has been a success is evident in the atmosphere on site. The mood is good, not only among project participants but also among logistics partners. Satisfaction is high, and expectations for the next project phases are correspondingly elevated.
This has been a team achievement, one that would not have been possible without the Inbound Logistics division, the infrastructure teams for charging setup, and the sales organization for managing the vehicle handover to logistics partners. Oliver Berger confirms: “Planning, coordination, and execution were demanding, but our project team has achieved something truly remarkable with great dedication and a strong implementation focus.”
The extraordinary performance of the interdisciplinary project team and the sustainability milestone, through the first-time use of e-trucks on this scale, also convinced the jury of the German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA) and the Federal Logistics Association (BVL) in Dresden. Back in February, the project “Electrify Inbound Logistics” was awarded the VDA Logistics Award 2025.
Charging infrastructure plays a pivotal role in the implementation and success of the project. Marc Köster, Network Strategy and Sustainability, Mercedes-Benz Trucks, explains: “One of the main challenges was to mirror long-established logistics processes with diesel trucks using e-trucks, and to do so without major disadvantages. Setting up our own charging infrastructure directly in the unloading zones of our sites has been a game changer.”
This enables e-trucks to charge during unloading or waiting times, without time loss, a crucial factor for economic viability. At Wörth, 15 charging points have already been installed on-site, including six 400 kW fast chargers from TruckCharge. A total of eleven charging stations are currently in operation at the Gaggenau, Kassel and Mannheim plants, as well as their associated warehouses, including seven TruckCharge fast chargers with 400 kW capacity. For the current year 2025, eight more fast chargers are planned across all German sites.
This charging infrastructure is also a practical demonstration of the TruckCharge product offering, a Daimler Truck brand that supports customers with consulting, operations, and charging solutions for e-infrastructure.
At the convoy event, representatives of all logistics partners are present, and all are clearly enthusiastic. The eActros 600 proves its worth in daily operations, impressing with both range and charging times, as well as driving comfort.
Axel Frey, CEO of Seifert Logistics Group and long-time partner of Mercedes-Benz, underscores the importance of sustainability for his company:
“As a long-standing partner of Mercedes-Benz, this project allows us to combine partnership and innovation. We've been part of the project since the deployment of the eActros 300/400, and we’re thrilled with the new eActros 600.”
Dominik Herbert, a driver with Seifert Logistics Group, adds: “The vehicle drives in an excellent way, I’m fully convinced. The biggest challenge is still: Where do I charge it? That’s why the charging infrastructure at the plants is a real advantage.”
Ralf Steuer, Head of Dispatch at Walter Schmitt GmbH, is also enthusiastic about both the eActros 600 and the project as a whole: “We’ve been actively involved in the practical rollout of e-mobility in logistics for several years now. Public charging infrastructure remains an issue, but thanks to the charging options at plant sites and our own depots, we can now cover even long routes, like those to Hungary, without any problems.“
Achim Puchert, Jürgen Distl, Michael Scheib, and Stina Fagermann also emphasized in their speeches the strategic importance of the project, for the respective sites, the Mercedes-Benz Trucks brand, and the overall sustainability strategy of Daimler Truck.
With the convoy and the start of battery-electric long-haul logistics to supply our German plants, we are sending a strong signal for an emissions-free transport future. By electrifying our inbound logistics with the eActros 600, we’re proving that locally CO₂e-free logistics solutions are already a reality today.
Achim Puchert – Member of the Board of Management of Daimler Truck Holding AG, responsible for Mercedes-Benz Trucks and BharatBenz
The takeaway: the convoy around the ‚Electrify Inbound Logistics’ project is far more than a symbolic act. It’s an outstanding achievement by the entire team involved in a highly demanding cross-plant project. And last but not least, a lighthouse sustainability project showing Daimler Trucks progress on its sustainability journey.
Sustainability is an integral part of our core business and our business activities. We want to decarbonize transportation and passenger transportation and drive the industry-wide transformation. In this way, we act and assume responsibility for the benefit of the environment as well as people and society – on the basis of responsible corporate governance.
To achieve this, we focus on three areas of sustainability: Planet, People and Performance
Please find more information on sustainabilty at Daimler Truck here: Sustainability | Daimler Truck.
