L-R: Martin Kehnen, Head of Charterway Rental & Major Customer Management at Mercedez-Benz Trucks Germany; Markus Maurer, General Manager of Dachser Kornwestheim;
Credit: Dachser
Global logistics company Dachser has announced the completion of its vehicle mix for emission-free deliveries in Stuttgart city centre in Germany.
Martin Kehnen, Head of CharterWay Rental & Major Customer Management at Mercedes-Benz Trucks Germany, has now handed over the keys to the all-electric 18-tonne Mercedes-Benz eActros to Markus Maurer, General Manager of Dachser’s Kornwestheim branch.
As soon as employees have been briefed and completed all the requisite training, Dachser will integrate the eActros into its ongoing test operations in Stuttgart. As with the all-electric 7.5-tonne FUSO eCanter, the truck will be used in professional driver training. As Markus Maurer explained: “We’ll be using the eActros for transporting deliveries both directly to customers and to the microhub in the Heslach district of Stuttgart. From there, pedelecs are used for the last mile”.
The eActros has a payload of four to five metric tonnes, depending on the design, and offers space for eighteen pallets. With a range of 200 kilometres, it is ideal for daily delivery transports in and around Stuttgart city centre. Its 240 kWh lithium-ion batteries charge in two hours at 150 kW. According to the Mercedes-Benz Trucks division, the prototype is set to go into large-scale production in 2021.
With its innovative city logistics concept known as Dachser Emission-Free Delivery, Dachser is providing emission-free deliveries of groupage shipments in downtown Stuttgart. The company has plans to roll out the concept in other city centres, too. In December 2018, Dachser won Germany’s national competition for sustainable urban logistics, organised by the Federal Ministry for the Environment and the German Environment Agency.
Dachser operates two other types of vehicles with alternative powertrain technologies in Stuttgart, each with its own strengths: maneuverable, electrically assisted cargo bikes, which are used for the last mile, and a compact, all-electric 7.5-ton FUSO eCanter lorry, which will also be based in the city centre. With the addition of the 18-ton eActros, the all-electric vehicle mix is now complete.
In conducting these test operations, Dachser is gathering the data and experience it needs to determine the right vehicle mix for sustainable deliveries of groupage shipments to city centres. In addition to Stuttgart, tests are also underway in Berlin, Freiburg, Karlsruhe, Cologne, Málaga, Mannheim, Paris, Tübingen and Ulm.
