Dive Brief:
- Penske Truck Leasing, Pitt Ohio and Ryder System placed some of the first orders for Daimler Truck North America’s medium duty, battery-electric Freightliner eM2, according to the manufacturer.
- Production of the EV truck is underway at Daimler’s plant in Portland, Oregon, the OEM announced Oct. 30. Other U.S. customers receiving initial units are Ferguson, Hogan Truck Leasing, Titan Freight Systems and Velocity Truck Rental & Leasing. In Canada, the first trucks will go to Brossard Leasing and Day & Ross.
- “Our partners and dealers are looking forward to introducing the Freightliner eM2 to their customers, and we are excited to see it in use by customers and fleets,” Rakesh Aneja, Daimler’s head of eMobility, said in a statement.
Dive Insight:
Aneja called the production launch of the EV trucks “another important milestone on our journey to a zero-emissions product line.” The eM2 is Daimler’s 10th battery-electric truck in production worldwide.
Built on the Freightliner M2 106 Plus platform and following the introduction of the eCascadia in 2022, the eM2 is Daimler’s medium-duty electric option. It features a proprietary Detroit ePowertrain, streamlined design with electric motors and a 2-speed transmission directly on its drive axles allowing for lower cost per mile.
The class 6 single-motor model offers up to 190 continuous horsepower, a 194 kWh battery, and — most critically for trucking — a typical range of 180 miles on a single charge. The class 7 dual-motor variant offers a typical range of 250 miles on each charge.
Daimler isn’t waiting for customers to receive delivery of the trucks to gather feedback on the EVs’ performance.
The OEM incorporated the medium-duty vehicles into a customer experience fleet it launched in 2020, a partnership with over a dozen customers who collectively represent more than 150,000 of all Class 6-8 trucks on the road.
The Customer Experience Fleet is part of Daimler’s broader Freightliner Electric Innovation Fleet, which commenced operation in late 2018 to collect feedback and data on the integration of battery-electric trucks into large-scale fleets.
In other words, it won’t be its first time putting eM2 trucks on the road. Daimler is bullish on the vehicles’ performance and potential use cases.
“The feedback we've received reinforces our confidence that the Freightliner eM2 will meet and exceed our customers' expectations,” Aneja said.
