Large electric trucks are slowly becoming adopted worldwide, and Mercedes-Benz Trucks wants to show customers how various methods of charging can help. All in one place.
Located in Wörth am Rhein, Germany – just north of the German-French border, Mercedes-Benz Trucks set up a charge park to acquaint owners of charging options. Known as the eTruck Charging Park, it’s a one-stop location featuring several charging options. Their focus is based on consulting customers on charging infrastructure. They want to show various charging systems that are all located in one place. This gives the customer the ability to see what’s available for their fleet, and make a more informed decision.
Mercedes-Benz Trucks is working with EBnW:
“Besides the technological development of all the necessary components, the development of the electric charging infrastructure is one of the factors crucial to the success of electric heavy-duty transport. Together with our parent company, EnBW, we are contributing a lot of expertise in charging infrastructure and the energy industry to the project.”
Axel Hausen, Head of major e-mobility & special projects at the services division of Netze BW
We are at the very beginning of world-wide adaption to electrically powered trucks. Not everyone is sold on the prospect, and there are a lot of unanswered issues that are ever-present. Range, degradation and battery recycling come to mind, but so does the infrastructure. The potential savings on fueling costs, and maintenance may be impressive. Unfortunately, that’s often outweighed those who worry about getting their vehicles charged.
One focus of the eTruck Charging Park is on personal customer consulting, known as eConsulting.
While Europe’s charging infrastructure is growing rapidly for consumer EVs, the same cannot be said for large trucks. Mercedes-Benz Trucks saw this hurdle as an opportunity to open up the charge park, (and possibly more in the future) to work with people in person. The ability to have hands on experience, along with on-hand expertise, should be a huge benefit for consumers.
“In the transformation to e-mobility, our goal is to offer our customers more than just an electric truck. We want to provide an integrated solution that includes consulting and charging infrastructure solutions from a single source. Our charging park for customers in Wörth is an integral part of this approach and shows customers, in a practical and tangible way, what charging infrastructure for their application can look like.”
Michael Scheib, Head of Product Management, Mercedes-Benz Trucks
In the transition to e-mobility, customers need an opportunity to test equipment. On top of that, expert support for setting up their own charging infrastructure.
In time, something like this would be nice to have in the United States.
