MAN Truck & Bus is entering a new electric era.
The company handed over its first 40-tonne electric truck to automotive supplier DRÄXLMAIER Group in Leipzig this week. Moving forward, DRÄXLMAIER will use the MAN eTGX truck to transport batteries for the Porsche Macan Electric to the Porsche plant in Leipzig with no tailpipe emissions. The electric truck will be charged with electricity from renewable sources on the DRÄXLMAIER site.
MAN CEO Alexander Vlaskamp said:This is a milestone in our company's history. MAN presented the first diesel truck 100 years ago. Now we are entering a new electric era. Our very first eTruck goes to DRÄXLMAIER. We are very pleased about the trust in MAN. After years of planning, development and many tens of thousands of kilometres of test drives, we are finally getting started.
Albrecht Reimold, Member of the Porsche Executive Board for Production and Logistics said this e-truck proved that even large components such as battery modules could be transported electrically in large quantities.
Felix Klimas, Head of Supply Chain Management at the DRÄXLMAIER Group, said:By using the MAN eTruck, we are realising complete electrification to our customer and reaffirming our commitment to making logistics processes more sustainable and future-oriented. In doing so, we are fulfilling a central aspect of our understanding of sustainability: reducing emissions in the supply chain.
DRÄXLMAIER will not be the owner of the truck. Instead, it is being purchased by Business Fleet Services (BFS), the largest MAN commercial vehicle rental company in Europe. BFS will rent the vehicle to Spedition Elflein, which will transport the batteries on DRÄXLMAIER’s behalf.
The distance between the DRÄXLMAIER location and the customer’s plant in Leipzig is roughly 5km. The e-truck can transport an average of 15.5 tonnes. The plan is for two further vehicles to follow by the end of 2024, meaning a total of three MAN eTGX trucks will be in use for DRÄXLMAIER.
The MAN eTGX has 450 HP (330kW), a battery capacity of 534kWh (of which 480kWh can be used), with six battery packs. It has a charging capacity of up to 375kW via CCS (combined charging system). The truck is a low-loader and MAN is currently the only manufacturer to make an electric low-loader semitrailer tractor – an ultra-tractor – as standard.
Its low fifth-wheel height of 950mm means it can tow trailers with an interior height of 3m, allowing it to transport significantly more volume. This aspect is of particular relevance to the automotive industry, which often has to transport lightweight but large parts.
The most powerful version of the MAN e-truck has 544 HP (400kW). Depending on how it’s used, it can achieve a range of roughly 650km without recharging (when equipped with a seventh high-voltage battery that will be available in the future).
Both the MAN eTGX and the MAN eTGS are available with the megawatt charging standard (MCS), which will allow the trucks to be recharged from 10 to 80 percent battery capacity in around 30 minutes in the future. This would make the MAN e-truck suitable for long-distance transport.
MAN Chief Sales Officer Friedrich Baumann said:We expect that by 2030, around half of all MAN trucks delivered will be battery-electric.
