Fuel Efficiency
Mercedes Beats Tesla To The Electric Heavy Truck Market
It seems like every time Tesla announces a new innovation, everyone is basically wowed. While Elon Musk said the company is going to jump into the heavy truck market with an all-electric model, Mercedes-Benz has beat him to the punch with a concept.
The Germans just revealed the Urban eTruck is supposed to have a range of up to 124 miles. It’s labeled as an “urban” commercial truck, so that’s not a huge deal. It also can weigh up to 26 tons, so that kind of range with that much weight is actually pretty respectable.
Sounds great, right? The only problem is Mercedes-Benz says it won’t be ready to deliver a production version of the truck until the early 2020s. Before all the Tesla fanboys start laughing, they should consider all of the quality issues the Model X has been suffering, then maybe realize Mercedes-Benz has been making vehicles before they grandpa was born. The Germans are a huge force in the commercial truck industry, one Tesla must reckon with.
That’s not all: Mercedes-Benz already has the Fuso Canter E-Cell in some customers’ hands, doing trials ahead of wide distribution. In fact, that’s been going on for about two years now. The Fuso Canter E-Cell a light commercial truck, weighing a mere 6 tons.
All of this news just shows that electrification of bigger vehicles is becoming a reality. That will arguably save far more gasoline and diesel than a bunch of people switching from Corollas to Priuses.
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