The battery-electric Mercedes-Benz truck for long-distance haulage is officially on its way.

Mercedes-Benz Trucks will be presenting the series version of the previous eActros LongHaul on 10 October, with a new design and the new name of eActros 600 as a world premiere.

The designation 600 is derived from the battery capacity in kilowatt hours – as in the eActros 300/400 for distribution haulage. The high battery capacity and a new, particularly efficient electric drive axle developed in-house enable a range of around 500km without intermediate charging.

Thanks to its low energy consumption, the e-truck is intended to be the most economical long-haul truck from Mercedes-Benz Trucks compared to the conventional diesel Actros.

The manufacturer expects that the e-truck will significantly accelerate the far-reaching transformation of road freight transport towards CO₂-neutral drives.

Mercedes-Benz plants in Wörth, Mannheim, Gaggenau and Kassel are preparing for series production, while production of prototypes for customer test fleets is already underway. Series readiness is planned for 2024.

“The eActros 600, produced in Wörth, is able to replace the majority of diesel trucks in the important long-haul segment, as it sets new standards in terms of cost-effectiveness for our customers,” said Karin Rådström, CEO Mercedes-Benz Trucks.

“It also offers huge potential for reducing CO₂ emissions. I am convinced that this truck will define the new benchmark in road freight transport.”

Yaris Pürsün, Head of Global Powersystems Operation Daimler Truck, added, “With the eActros 600, the focus of production at our Mercedes-Benz Powersystems plants in Mannheim, Kassel and Gaggenau is shifting more and more to e-mobility.

“We therefore started to make preparations at an early stage by setting up a production and technology network of competence centers for electric drive components and are already in the midst of preparing for series production of the new generation of our power units.”

Since the first appearance of the electric truck as a “concept prototype” at the IAA Transportation 2022, further test vehicles have been built at the Mercedes-Benz plant Wörth – with central components coming from the Mercedes-Benz plants Mannheim, Kassel and Gaggenau. Prototypes of the vehicle were put through their paces during winter testing in Finland at the beginning of the year.

A fleet of around fifty prototype vehicles is currently being built, which is also planned to go into practical testing with the first customers in the next step. At the same time, the four plants are intensively preparing for series production of the eActros 600 or important components.

The eActros 600 will be produced on the existing assembly line at the Wörth production plant, parallel to and flexibly alongside the trucks to be equipped with a diesel drive. The electric drive components will also be installed at that site.

The e-axle, high-voltage batteries and the front box, a complex technology module, are mounted in several production steps. Once all high-voltage components have been installed, the entire system is put into operation and the truck is ready to go.

A new design language for the driver’s cab of the eActros 600 breaks with the familiar look of the Actros model series, picks up design elements from the concept prototype presented at the IAA and continues them with clear lines and an aerodynamic design. The interior is also being upgraded.

Three battery packs provide the eActros 600 with an installed total capacity of over 600 kWh in series production and two electric motors as part of the new e-axle generate a continuous output of 400 kW as well as a peak output of over 600kW.

In addition to the tractor unit, Mercedes-Benz Trucks will also produce rigid variants of the eActros 600 right at market launch. This will offer customers numerous other possible use cases in fully electric transport. Development engineers at Mercedes-Benz Trucks are designing the eActros 600 so that the vehicle and its components meet the same durability requirements as a comparable conventional heavy long-distance Actros. That means 1.2 million kilometers on the road over a period of ten years.

The batteries used in the eActros 600 employ lithium-iron phosphate cell technology (LFP). These are characterised, above all, by a long service life and more usable energy. The developers of Mercedes-Benz Trucks aim for the batteries of the production eActros 600 to be capable of being charged from 20 to 80 percent in under 30 minutes at a charging station with an output of about one megawatt.