Europe-based logistics company Hegelmann Group has signed a Letter of Intent for an order of 50 Mercedes-Benz Trucks battery-electric long-haul trucks.

Mercedes-Benz Trucks presented a prototype of its series-production vehicle for heavy-duty long-haul transport planned for 2024 at this year’s IAA Transportation in Hanover, Germany.

The vehicles are to be delivered to Hegelmann Group from Bruchsal, Germany with the start of series production in 2024.

Following its presentation at the IAA in Hanover, the eActros LongHaul will be tested on public roads for the first time this year. Intensive customer testing with near-series production ready prototypes is also planned for 2023. In this context, letters of intent were already signed with Amazon and Rhenus in September.

“To make transportation sustainable and emission-free for the future, we need many strong partners at our side,” said Stina Fagerman, head of sales, marketing and services at Mercedes-Benz Trucks.

“Therefore, we are very pleased about this agreement and the confidence of the Hegelmann Group in the Mercedes-Benz Trucks brand.”

On a single battery charge the eActros LongHaul will have a range of around 50km. Mercedes-Benz Trucks’ development engineers are designing the eActros LongHaul for the same vehicle and component durability requirements as a comparable conventional heavy-duty long-haul Actros. That means 1.2 million kilometers of mileage over ten years of operation.

The eActros LongHaul uses batteries with lithium iron phosphate cell technology. Above all, these are characterised by a long service life and more usable energy. eActros LongHaul’s  batteries can be charged from 20% to 80% in under 30 minutes at a charging station with about one megawatt of power. Three battery packs deliver a total installed capacity of more than 600kWh and two electric motors, as part of a new eAxle, generate a continuous output of 400kW with a peak output of more than 600kW.

In addition to the semitrailer tractor, Mercedes-Benz Trucks is also producing flatbed chassis variants of the eActros LongHaul right from market launch. This offers customers numerous other possible applications in all-electric transport.