The heavy-haul and long-distance electric truck industry has been relatively quiet, working away with today’s current battery technology but primarily behind the scenes. But things kicked off much more in public when Tesla started talking about its electric truck and stories started to pop up.
Fuso, now part of Daimler, has been making the news with an electric vehicle (EV) truck ready to lift the heavy load, the E-Fuso Vision One, right on the heels of its e-Canter, which you can read about here from fellow writer Steve Hanley.
E-Fuso Vision Wants To Lift The Heavy Load
At the recent Tokyo Motor Show, Fuso showed its all-electric battery-operated heavy-duty truck, the E-Fuso Vision. The company wants to steal some of the Tesla limelight back and place its Fuso brand as the real game in the electric trucking industry.
Specifically, the E-Fuso Vision One is only a prototype, but Fuso says it can handle 11 tons of cargo, which is only 2 tons less than the average payload of a comparable diesel truck. All of this depends on a hefty 300 kW battery pack that gives the truck a respectful range of 220 miles (350 kilometers). Although 220 miles won’t make it for long-haul trucks, the E-Fuso Vision would be ideal for short routes, such city hauls. This is not bad for a start and it should compete well with those trucks since they are mostly used on the same routes with predetermined round trips, ideal for an EV.
Daimler also announced that the E-Fuso Vision could go on sale in 4 years in Europe, Japan, and the US. And according to Marc Llistosella, Daimler’s Asia truck chief: “The E-Fuso underlines our commitment to electrify our entire product range.” The E-Fuso would herald a series of electric and hybrid trucks and buses from the company.
From the eCanter to the E-Fuso Vision
Daimler has already dabbled with electric trucks with its e-Canter. The E-Canter is a short-range and light-duty van for urban deliveries. Fellow writer Kyle Fields also reported on CleanTechnica about the Daimler Urban eTruck, which was introduced before the Tesla Truck. Take that Tesla! Don’t we love a good competition?
Here’s another video showing the entire expected line of electric and hybrid E-Fuso.
The Daimler E-Fuso Vision & EV Truck Line, In Conclusion
Unfortunately, the website doesn’t offer much more information than what we covered here. We expect this delivery to be somewhat motivated by the wild attention Tesla receives whenever it tweets anything. But don’t underestimate Daimler. The company has deep pockets and the engineering team onboard has enough experience to bring these trucks to reality.
In the meantime, you can follow the E-Fuso evolution on its social media pages — Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, and YouTube.
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