In June, Daimler Trucks presented two new fully electric trucks from its US-subsidiary Freightliner. (Earlier post.) Now, Daimler announced the two first customers to operate the e-vehicles within their fleet: a total of 30 Freightliner eCascadia and eM2 trucks will be handed over to Penske Truck Leasing and NFI Industries in the US.

• Penske Truck Leasing Corporation is a leading global transportation services provider operating more than 270.000 vehicles and serving customers from more than 1.000 locations in North America, South America, Europe, Australia and Asia. Penske will get ten Freightliner eCascadia heavy-duty trucks for regional delivery and ten medium-duty eM2 for local operations in the Northwest Pacific and in California.

• Logistics specialist NFI Industries holds a fleet of 4,000 tractors and approximately 8,900 trailers in North America. Ten Freightliner eCascadias will be delivered to NFI for drayage activities from the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach to warehouses in California’s Inland Empire metro region.

Daimler is the first manufacturer to test electrified trucks for all weight classes with customers until end of 2018. Furthermore, Daimler Trucks, as a comprehensive system provider, is working with the customers on route planning, development of charging infrastructure and vehicle service support.

In addition, the newly founded E-Mobility Group will use ten Freightliner e-trucks for research and development purposes to gain further knowledge about e-trucks in the US. DTNA has a goal of starting series production of the electrified trucks in 2021.

Freightliner eCascadia. The Freightliner eCascadia is based on the Cascadia, the most successful heavy-duty long-distance truck (class 8, 80,000 lb. gross combined weight rating (GCWR) in the North American market. At start of series production, the eCascadia will have up to 730 peak horsepower. The batteries provide 550 kWh usable capacity, a range of up to 250 miles and have the ability to charge up to 80% (providing a range of 200 miles) in about 90 minutes. The Class 8 tractor is designed for local and regional distribution and drayage.

Freightliner eM2. The Freightliner eM2 is intended for local distribution operations and last-mile delivery services (class 6, 26,000 lb. GCWR).The eM2 truck will initially have up to 480 peak horsepower. The batteries provide 325 kWh of usable capacity, a range of up to 230 miles and have the ability to charge up to 80% (providing a range of 184 miles) in about 60 minutes.