CATL will supply lithium-ion battery cell modules for a wide range of Daimler Trucks & Buses’ global electric truck portfolio to be introduced in markets from 2021 onwards, including the Mercedes-Benz eActros, the Freightliner eCascadia and the Freightliner eM2.
The development of the battery systems lies with Daimler Trucks & Buses. Battery pack assembly will be carried out by Daimler Trucks & Buses as well — at its Mercedes-Benz Mannheim plant in Germany and its Detroit plant in the U.S.
“We strive to be first to market with series production zero-emission transportation solutions on a global scale,” says Gesa Reimelt, head of Daimler Trucks & Buses E-Mobility Group. “Already today, we have battery-electric trucks in customer operation around the world. Working with CATL as a strong global partner will go a long way in providing a wide range of electric trucks for series production from 2021 onwards.”
In the United States, the all-electric medium Freightliner eM2 and the heavy-duty Freightliner eCascadia trucks are in practical customer testing. Around 150 vehicles of the light-duty FUSO eCanter are already in customer operation in cities around the world, such as New York City, Tokyo, Berlin, London, Amsterdam, Paris and Lisbon. The heavy-duty Mercedes-Benz eActros with a range of around 200 km is in intensive customer trials as part of an “eActros innovation fleet” in Germany and Switzerland with the first customer handover in 2018.
Since 2018, the E-Mobility Group bundles Daimler Trucks & Buses’ global know-how in the field of e-mobility and defines the strategy for electric components and products across brands and segments. As is the case with the global platform strategy for conventional vehicles, the E-Mobility Group develops an integrated electric architecture, maximizing the use of synergies and optimizing the application of investments.
At the same time, the E-Mobility Group offers comprehensive consulting for customers and focuses on the entire ecosystem with the goal to make e-mobility economically feasible also in terms of total cost of ownership, the company says. The E-Mobility Group is set up globally with employees working in various locations throughout the company’s worldwide development network, i.e. in Portland (U.S.), Stuttgart (Germany) and Kawasaki (Japan).
