MAN Truck & Bus has launched sales of the first heavy-duty electric truck in its corporate history, marking another milestone in the decarbonization of freight transport. 600 order inquiries have already been received. The first 200 units are scheduled to roll out to selected customers as early as 2024, before production at MAN’s Munich plant starts in larger numbers from 2025 as orders ramp up.
With the eMobility Center, MAN laid the foundation for the development of the new MAN eTGX and MAN eTGS high-volume electric trucks at its Munich plant around two years ago and invested heavily in preparations for mixed production of diesel and electric trucks. 50 prototypes have since been built, and around 4,000 employees from production and sales have been trained for the switch to electric mobility. At MAN’s Nuremberg site, MAN is investing around €100 million in setting up battery production.
“In order to achieve the 1.5-degree target of the Paris climate agreement, we as the commercial vehicle industry must do our part and sustainably reduce CO2 emissions. Electric trucks are the key to achieving this. As a commercial vehicle manufacturer, we have repositioned ourselves for this epochal transformation in recent years, making ourselves robust and future-proof to be able to handle the high investments in the new technology. With the sale of our new eTrucks, we are now launching into a new era of climate-neutral transport. As early as 2030, every second MAN truck registered in Europe is to be electric. However, for us to achieve this goal, a nationwide charging infrastructure is an absolute prerequisite. We therefore need a significantly accelerated expansion to at least 4,000 megawatt charging points in Germany and 50,000 high-capacity and megawatt charging points in Europe by 2030,” says Friedrich Baumann, Executive Board member for Sales and Customer Solutions at MAN Truck & Bus.
For MAN’s developers, it was clear from the outset that the nationwide switch to electromobility would only succeed if the new eTruck was in no way inferior to a diesel truck in terms of practicality and application suitability, but above all in terms of its ability to be combined with a wide range of body solutions. Equally important is the pre-purchase consultation phase as an essential basis for successful use.
eConsulting to eServices
While the development staff have been working hard to make the electric drive in trucks fit for all areas of application and use in road haulage, the MAN Transport Solutions team is already working continuously to prepare transport companies for this new era. Because on the user side, too, a transformation is needed on the way to the eTruck. This is where 360 Degree eMobility Consulting comes in. In addition to advice on suitable vehicles, this also includes consideration of customer-specific operating conditions such as operating phases including cost optimization, route analysis, fleet optimization and, building on this, the necessary advice on the charging infrastructure. Additional support is provided by digital tools such as the new MAN eReadyCheck, which customers can use to check how their delivery routes can be driven purely electrically, and the MAN eManager, which enables fleet managers to keep a constant eye on the important information on the charging status of all trucks in the fleet. Beyond the product and its application, MAN is also committed to expanding the charging infrastructure: together with Daimler Truck and the Volvo Group, the TRATON GROUP has established a joint venture to set up at least 1,700 high-performance charging points on or near highways and logistics hubs throughout Europe. MAN also has its own charging infrastructure offering for customers in its portfolio. For this purpose, MAN cooperates with charging infrastructure manufacturers such as ABB, Heliox, and SBRS.
Application-modular battery and charging connection range
The new MAN eTGX and MAN eTGS are characterized by high variability in battery configurations. With six battery packs, two of which are installed under the cab and up to four more on the side of the vehicle frame, both offer up to 480 kWh of usable battery capacity for daily ranges of up to 800 kilometers. Developed by MAN specifically for use in commercial vehicles, they will be mass-produced at the Nuremberg plant from 2025. With their NMC cell chemistry and specially developed temperature management, the battery packs offer high energy density with a compact design, long service life and fast charging – even with low residual battery charge and low outside temperatures. This means that the optimum vehicle configuration in terms of range, payload and charging time can be selected for every application characteristic – from supermarket deliveries in the city center, through regional building materials supply, to long-distance transport in production logistics.
Operations in urban distribution transport, for example, generally require shorter daily ranges of up to 250 kilometers, and recharging takes place overnight after the tours in the logistics depot. The modular battery concept of the MAN eTGX and MAN eTGS offers the option of equipping the vehicle with only three, four or five battery packs instead of six, thus reducing the vehicle weight by up to 2.4 metric tons for more available payload and lower consumption for partial loads or empty runs.
In addition to the CCS standard with up to 375 kW, MAN will be offering the much more powerful megawatt charging standard (MCS) for fast intermediate charging during breaks in driving times right from the start of sales, which will initially enable 750 kW, and in a later expansion stage even more than one megawatt of charging power. And here, too, MAN has thought of as much flexibility as possible for customer use with different charging station locations at the depots. Two CCS connections can be variably combined on the left and right sides behind the front wheel arch or on the right side of the frame at the rear. The MCS connection can also be ordered on the left or right instead of one of the front CCS connections. The MAN battery management system ensures that the batteries are always in optimum operating condition with regard to the charging status of the individual cells, voltage and current monitoring, optimum temperature regulation and insulation monitoring during charging and driving.
