Mercedes Beats Tesla To The Electric Heavy Truck Market

Mercedes-Benz Urban eTruck concept (Credit: Mercedes-Benz)

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.

Mercedes-Benz Urban eTruck concept (Credit: Mercedes-Benz)

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.