Daimler Truck subsidiary FUSO has celebrated the start of production for the next generation eCanter in Europe.
The occasion was marked at an event at the Mitsubishi FUSO Europe production plant in Tramagal, Portugal.
Karl Deppen, CEO Daimler Truck Asia, said the start of production of the FUSO eCanter marks a milestone.
“We at Daimler Truck are fully committed to the Paris Climate Agreement and making sustainable transport a success, which is why we aim to offer only CO2-neutral vehicles in our core global markets by 2039,” he said.
“An important part of that is supporting our customers’ transition to eMobility with the easy, efficient and electric eCanter starting production here in Tramagal. With this, we are taking an important step closer to CO2-neutral transportation.”
The event also marked a milestone for the Tramagal plant, with the 250,000th FUSO Canter produced on site.
The MFTE plant in Tramagal has produced the FUSO Canter since 1980.
The eCanter was launched in 2017. There are now more than 550 FUSO eCanters in customer operation in Europe, Japan and the United States, as well as in Australia and New Zealand.
The total distance covered by the global eCanter fleet in all-electric and thus locally emission-free mode is now around eight million kilometers.
Production of the all-electric light truck started in the first quarter of 2023 at the sister plant in Kawasaki, Japan. In Europe, sales of the FUSO Next Generation eCanter will initially start in 17 markets, including France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, the UK, Ireland, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Slovakia, Greece and Poland.
FUSO has made several adjustments to the Next Generation eCanter. While the previous electric truck was exclusively available as a 7.49-tonner with a wheelbase of 3400mm, customers now have the choice of six wheelbases between 2500 and 4750mm and a permissible gross vehicle weight of 4.25 to 8.55 tonnes.
The load capacity of the chassis is up to five tonnes. The Next Generation eCanter is powered either by a 110kW (variants with a gross vehicle weight of 4.25 and six tonnes) or 129kW (variants with a gross vehicle weight of 7.49 and 8.55 tonnes) electric motor with an optimised driveline and 430Nm of torque; the maximum speed is 89km/h (electronically limited).
Depending on the wheelbase, three different battery packs are available: S, M and L. The batteries use lithium iron phosphate cell technology. The battery pack in the S variant has a nominal capacity of 41kWh and enables a range of up to 70km. In the M variant, the nominal capacity is 83kWh and the range is up to 14km. The L variant, as the most powerful package, offering a nominal capacity of 124kWh and a range of up to 200km. Until now the eCanter has only had a battery option with a nominal capacity of 81kWh and a range of up to 100km.
