Daimler Truck AG and lithium-ion battery manufacturer and developer Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Limited (CATL) are intensifying their existing partnership based on their shared vision of CO₂-neutral electrified trucking. CATL will be the supplier of lithium-ion battery packs for the Mercedes-Benz eActros LongHaul battery-electric truck, which is planned to be ready for series production in 2024. The supply will go beyond 2030.

The batteries will combine high energy density with ultra-long cycle life as well as fast-charging ability to meet the unique requirements of battery-electric long-haul trucks. In addition, the companies intend to design and develop jointly even more advanced next-generation battery cells and packs for truck-specific applications, with a focus on high modularity and scalability in order to support different truck applications and flexible compatibility with future e-truck models.

In 2019, Daimler Truck AG and CATL entered into a global lithium-ion battery cell modules supply agreement for electric series trucks including the Mercedes-Benz eActros, the Freightliner eCascadia and eM2. In September 2020, Daimler Truck AG announced the eActros LongHaul, which will have a range of about 500 kilometers for energy-efficient transport on plannable long-haul routes.

Daimler Truck AG is pursuing a sustainable corporate strategy and aims to offer only new vehicles that are CO₂-neutral in driving operation (“tank-to-wheel”) in Europe, Japan, and North America by 2039. As early as 2022, Daimler Truck AG’s vehicle portfolio will include series-produced vehicles with battery-electric drive systems in the main sales regions Europe, the United States, and Japan. By 2027, Daimler Truck AG intends to supplement its portfolio by adding series-produced hydrogen-based fuel-cell vehicles.

With hundreds of vehicles in use with customers, Daimler Truck AG has already gained comprehensive, practice-oriented expertise with electric vehicles, and has recorded a total of more than ten million kilometers driven by battery-electric test and series-produced trucks and buses with customers worldwide.

Since 2018, intensive practical tests of the battery-electric Mercedes-Benz eActros for distribution transport have been carried out with numerous customers in Germany and other European countries. Series production of the eActros will start in the second half of this year. Series production of the Mercedes-Benz eEconic low-floor truck, which is based on the eActros, is scheduled to start in 2022.

In the United States, the medium-duty Freightliner eM2 and the heavy-duty Freightliner eCascadia are also currently undergoing practical tests with customers. Series production of the eCascadia is scheduled to start in mid-2022 and of the Freightliner eM2 in late 2022.

A global fleet of more than 200 FUSO eCanter light-duty trucks are in use in with numerous customers in Japan, the United States, Europe and Australia; the first of them were handed over to customers already in 2017.

CATL is a global leader in the development and manufacturing of lithium-ion batteries, with businesses covering R&D, manufacturing and sales in battery systems for new energy vehicles and energy storage systems. Headquartered in Ningde, China, CATL has established battery production bases in Ningde (Fujian Province); Liyang (Jiangsu Province); Xining (Qinghai Province); Yibin (Sichuan Province), and Zhaoqing (Guangdong Province). Now CATL is expanding globally, and has opened subsidiaries in Munich (Germany); Paris (France); Yokohama (Japan); and Detroit (USA). Its European production base, located in Erfurt, Germany, is currently under construction.