Daimler Rolls Out Battery-Powered Delivery Truck in U.S.

Daimler AG has introduced its first electric commercial truck, the light-duty Fuso eCanter to the U.S. market and promises that several other electric models will follow between now and 2020.

The company delivered three of the trucks yesterday to United Parcel Service Inc. in New York City. The eCanter is being built by Daimler’s Mitsubishi Fuso Truck and Bus affiliate factories in Japan and Portugal alongside conventionally powered Canter trucks.

The truck has a load capacity of 3.5 tons and can travel about 100 km (62 miles) per charge. The vehicle is powered by six lithium-ion batteries, each rated at 420 volts and 13.8 kWh. Daimler says the eCanter can reduce operating costs by as much as €1,000 ($1,200) per 10,000 km (6,200 miles).

Daimler notes that the eCanter is the result of several years of customer testing. The truck was launched in Japan in May, when Seven-Eleven Co. added 25 of the electric trucks to its fleet there.

Daimler intends to build only 500 of the electric trucks over the next two years. The company, declaring the market is there, is betting on the emergence of more powerful batteries that will provide greater range and draw more customers.