[HN Gopher] Mercedes-Benz eActros 600 e-truck
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Mercedes-Benz eActros 600 e-truck
 
Author : belter
Score  : 30 points
Date   : 2023-10-10 20:49 UTC (2 hours ago)
 
web link (www.mercedes-benz-trucks.com)
w3m dump (www.mercedes-benz-trucks.com)
 
| TheAlchemist wrote:
| They are crazy ! Publishing detailed stuff like truck weight,
| batteries charging times.
| 
| I much prefer the Tesla way - a truck that was released 1 year
| ago (!), and still, nobody knows it's weight, range nor price.
| 
| Jokes aside, it looks very good ! Is there somewhere a real-life
| comparison between all those trucks ? (not like the one that was
| recently posted - which included detailed, by the minute data
| about battery / distance travelled but ... not weight the truck
| was carrying)
 
  | redox99 wrote:
  | What are the specs? The linked web page is atrocious and can't
  | find any kind of spec there.
 
    | ht85 wrote:
    | https://www.mercedes-benz-
    | trucks.com/en_GB/emobility/world/o...
 
      | api wrote:
      | Not good enough for long haul trucking (at least in the USA
      | with its massive distances) but definitely good enough for
      | delivery trucks and short/medium range regional stuff.
 
        | gumby wrote:
        | I think a pretty big percentage of US container trucking
        | is railhead-destination rather than long distance
        | source->destination. It feels like a lot of freight is
        | transported by truck when you are on the freeway, but if
        | you go to Europe or India (where rail is mainly
        | passengers) you'll find the roads comparatively choked
        | with trucks.
        | 
        | I'd love to see some numbers though -- this is all
        | surmise.
 
      | w-m wrote:
      | That seems to be for the previous version, not the
      | announced 600 kWh one.
 
  | [deleted]
 
  | ushakov wrote:
  | Same goes for the Tesla Roadster...
 
| dieselgate wrote:
| I love the diversified markets of Mercedes-Benz (Volvo too in the
| context of trucks) - sort of reminds me of Lamborghini tractors.
| Great to see their heavy EV offering
 
  | laurencerowe wrote:
  | Neither of these are still cars-to-trucks companies, they just
  | share a brand.
  | 
  | Mercedes-Benz (cars and light commercial vehicles) spun out its
  | heavy commercial vehicle business in 2021.
  | 
  | Volvo Group (heavy commercial vehicles, marine, industrial)
  | sold its car operation to Ford in 1999, which then sold it to
  | Geely in 2010.
  | 
  | Before them Rolls-Royce (aerospace, gas turbines, marine,
  | nuclear) spun out its car business in 1973.
 
    | sho_hn wrote:
    | Amusing little anecdote: The company used to be called
    | Daimler, with Mercedes-Benz being a brand. As part of the
    | split, the cars & vans unit renamed itself to Mercedes-Benz.
    | Employees got little "Founding Member" stickers for their
    | badges as a result - for a 100+ years old company :-)
 
    | cromka wrote:
    | Wonder how to they handle branding issues, though? For
    | example infringement? They can't possibly have all entities
    | go after the offenders, they must coordinate that somehow?
    | Not to mention logo or other branding changes.
 
      | joe5150 wrote:
      | Usually one company will own the trademarks and license
      | them to the other, so only one of the companies is
      | responsible for managing the IP. E.g. the Rolls-Royce IP is
      | owned by Rolls-Royce (the aerospace company) and licensed
      | to the company that builds Rolls-Royce-branded cars
      | (currently BMW). The contracts probably stipulate whether
      | and how the spin-off has to handle a logo redesign or
      | whatever else.
 
      | sho_hn wrote:
      | If this blows your mind, have a look at how many different
      | companies make and sell products under the Philips brand
      | some time :-)
 
  | UncleOxidant wrote:
  | Lamborghini tractors came before Lamborghini cars.
 
    | idontwantthis wrote:
    | And they only started making cars out of spite.
 
      | treprinum wrote:
      | Countach humiliated the Italian blacksmith.
 
| [deleted]
 
| whalesalad wrote:
| At some point the US abandoned cabovers and moved towards
| conventional cab trucks (with the long nose) which has the
| benefit of being more aerodynamic. I know European trucks are
| bound by more strict regulations and roads are often so small to
| warrant a cabover but why hasn't long haul evolved? With EV's
| especially it seems like a conventional cab would have a lot
| better range than a cabover.
 
  | w-m wrote:
  | I learned from a German hands-on video [0] on the Mercedes
  | truck that there's already a law that allows for up to 90 cm
  | long noses for aerodynamic design [1]. But it seems no
  | manufacturer has a model making use of that yet. I don't think
  | we will see a US style truck design though. If you want to
  | deliver to any European city, the US it's simply not feasible
  | to go longer.
  | 
  | [0]: https://youtu.be/AdgcShJJaBc
  | 
  | [1]: https://trans.info/en/more-aerodynamic-truck-cabins-come-
  | to-...
 
| mcsniff wrote:
| What does "locally emissions-free" mean? Exactly what I think it
| does?
| 
| Build everything in third world, ahem, developing countries, and
| so consumers can live guilt-free?
 
  | fragmede wrote:
  | Germany has a law about saying things are free. Like, you can't
  | say pizza delivery is free because it isn't - it's wrapped up
  | in the price of the pizza. In that way, electric vehicles
  | aren't emissions free because they're charged by polluting
  | power plants (most of the time).
 
  | input_sh wrote:
  | I mean yes, but actually no.
  | 
  | In this context it means that, on top of selling you trucks,
  | they're also interested in upselling you by selling you
  | chargers, charge management software, consulting you on power
  | requirements, liaising with power companies... things of that
  | nature, therefore helping you be emission free.
 
  | MarkusWandel wrote:
  | To me that's just typical German straightfowardness. You can
  | drive it in a downtown where pollution and noise are strictly
  | regulated. That's not to say that emissions don't happen
  | elsewhere - to build the truck and to charge it.
 
  | numpad0 wrote:
  | Sounds like a tongue-in-cheek way of saying "EV generally has
  | larger CO2 footprint but if you insist air in the city must be
  | clean" to me as well.
 
  | roomey wrote:
  | I thought it meant for local delivery services, as opposed to
  | long haul.
 
  | ChatGTP wrote:
  | I think it means while using it, smoke doesn't come out of it.
  | Maybe while charging some emissions happen ?
 
  | barbazoo wrote:
  | Depends on how electricity is generated I'd assume.
 
| LMYahooTFY wrote:
| It may be a ways off replacing long haul routes, but for short
| routes in ubran environments the dividends from reduced emissions
| seem great.
| 
| I imagine in Europe there will be more use cases. In the US 150
| mile range (with basically no traffic) fully loaded seems
| virtually useless. (Using their range calculator with 100% load,
| 50% load is a marginal range increase, and what about uphill?)
 
  | AnotherGoodName wrote:
  | There's no way to link (the website is terrible and navigation
  | doesn't update the URL) but i think this was pointing out that
  | there's now a 500km+ (310mile) range truck. That's what the 600
  | refers to, 600kwh. The previous truck had 180kwh.
  | 
  | Click "Find out more" after scrolling to "EACTROS LONGHAUL"
 
| pfannkuchen wrote:
| I was going to complain about the naming, but I see it's a semi
| so I guess naming doesn't matter. Though it would be nice if you
| could tell from the name that it was a semi.
 
  | numpad0 wrote:
  | That's like saying Mac Pro is an ambiguous name for a computer.
 
    | pfannkuchen wrote:
    | That's fair, but now that you mention it I do also think
    | that.
 
  | ska wrote:
  | It's not on the consumer facing site, right? I think everything
  | there is industrial purpose. And the "Actros" line is all
  | tractors.
 
| jeffbee wrote:
| Surprisingly charges at 160kW. There are passenger cars that more
| than double that figure.
 
| jakedata wrote:
| This or something similar would be my ideal RV. Cover the top
| with solar panels and you could park indefinitely. To top up for
| trips, many RV facilities have 220v power for charging and I
| could afford to wait. For boondocking, do it "Martian" style and
| have a stack of folded panels ready to deploy.
 
  | briffle wrote:
  | Isuzu also has an electric chassis truck:
  | https://www.isuzucv.com/en/nseries/nseries_ev
  | 
  | A west coast company already takes Isuzu 4x4 trucks and turns
  | them into pretty amazing campers: https://earthcruiser.com/
  | 
  | The have a whole new line for electric pickups, starting with
  | the Hummer EV: https://earthcruiser.com/reserve-your-gmc-
  | hummer-ev-earthcru...
 
    | jakedata wrote:
    | Hummer is arguably a much better name for an EV than an
    | internal combustion vehicle.
 
| gumballindie wrote:
| This is great! I hope germany turns around its dwindling car
| making industry, and evs are clearly the way to go. Now only if
| europe could solve its energy crisis.
 
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(page generated 2023-10-10 23:00 UTC)