The US company Velocity Truck Rental & Leasing ordered 125 eCascadia and 75 eM2 from Freightliner and expects the BEV trucks to be fully operational by 2025.
Both Freightliner models are battery-powered to run up to 230 miles (370 km), writes Velocity. This means the company has opted for the largest battery version. Daimler Truck North America (DTNA) unveiled the production version of the eCascadia in May 2022 and handed over the first units to US customers in November 2022.
The larger eCascadia is an all-electric version of North America’s best-selling Class 8 truck suited for short-haul and last-mile delivery routes. At 37.2 tonnes gross vehicle weight (40 t), it has an electric axle drive developed in the USA by the Daimler subsidiary Detroit ePowertrain. It is available with a single or dual motor.
The eM2 will only go into production this year. Velocity describes the Class 6-7 EV truck as engineered for regional pickup and delivery routes.
The company has already had real-life experiences with its electric trucks. In partnership with DTNA, Velocity serves on the Electric Vehicle Council, including the Customer Experience Fleet, to test the eCascadia in real-world applications. Collectively, the Freightliner eCascadia and eM2 models have been driven more than 1.5 million miles by customer partners, so the rental company.
“The Velocity team is making considerable investments to help its fleet customers successfully integrate medium- and heavy-duty battery-electric vehicles into their operations,” said DTNA SVP, Sales and Marketing, David Carson. “As one of DTNA’s largest dealership partners, Velocity also adds value as a solution-orientated member on our EV taskforce identifying tactical methods to electrify more fleets in the commercial sector.”
The entire fleet of 200 battery-electric trucks now on order is scheduled to be in full service by 2025. The first five Freightliner eCascadia trucks are currently being deployed to Arrowlink Logistics to support pickups and deliveries at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. Both have reportedly been working towards zero-emission operations for some time.
“Our team is excited to integrate zero-emission Freightliner eCascadia trucks into our port drayage operations,” said Kevin Kuo, president of Arrowlink USA, Inc. “Velocity Truck Rental & Leasing has made the entire process easy for our team – including helping us determine the right truck configurations for our routes, providing training to our drivers, and supporting us in developing a plan to charge our trucks.”
Velocity invests in 39 chargers with 150 kW capacity and two outlets. This allows the eM2 to reach an 80% state of charge in approximately 60 minutes (Class 6) and 90 minutes for the Class 7 model. Similarly, using dual port charging, the Class 8 Freightliner eCascadia can achieve an 80% state of charge in approximately 90 minutes.
The nearly four-dozen chargers will be installed at key locations along transit corridors, with 17 in Rancho Dominguez, 10 in Fontana, 10 in Industry, and two in San Diego. The company informs that Velocity’s customers will have access to these high-powered chargers as either their primary or supplementary charging location as part of the lease agreement.
Source: Velocity Truck
