Road Test: Mercedes-Benz eActros 400

One of the most divisive and argumentative topics online right now is electric vehicles, as it spills over into political issues such as the controversial Net Zero. With that in mind, we went for a drive in an electric eActros as part of the EV Rally 2023. There's not much else out there that'll get the traditional truck driver on the defensive as much as talk of electric power.

Fearsome debates happen daily online, often spilling over into the mainstream media about EVs (electric vehicles) of all shapes and sizes. You've got the electrical evangelists who are fully converted to the cause, convinced the benefits of zero tailpipe emissions will play a crucial role in the battle against impending climate catastrophe. At the other end of the spectrum are people who swear they'll never go near anything powered by batteries.

Electricity, fossil fuels and energy are all tied in one of the most complex situations in modern history. The debate has become politicised. As with seemingly everything these days, people are divided - and it's all seen in black and white with no nuance.

There's a supposed ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars on the way in 2030 in the UK, which is five years ahead of the EU target of 2035 - but the government isn't making moves to really make this viable as there needs to be colossal investment in infrastructure.

Zero emissions

The push toward 'Net Zero' is a hot topic. We'll be hearing a lot more about it in the coming months and years, because what's going to be involved with it to meet these targets is going to involve a fundamental restructuring of how we live our lives. Net Zero aims for countries to effectively produce no emissions by the year 2050, and we're going to do this with magical renewable electricity.

It's going to make absolutely no difference to anything given that China and India (which has now overtaken China as the world's most populous country) are not going to bother with this. As the West has deindustrialised and much of the world's manufacturing has moved to these countries, the politicians are delighted that on paper their countries no longer produce anywhere near as much pollution - but all they've done is shift it somewhere else. It doesn't make sense.

Trucks are spared the ban for a few more years, with diesel apparently being deleted as of 2040. It's so far off in the distance that it's impossible to guess what's going to happen between now and then in terms of alternative technologies and advancements in electric power. Drawing up arbitrary deadlines is silly; markets should evolve naturally in step with technology, and none of the politicians who came up with these ideas will be around by then.

You have to feel sorry for the truck-makers who are required to develop not only battery-powered solutions, but also continue to develop ICE engines to Euro 7 which is a serious task. The scale is such that they're teaming up to research and develop solutions beyond diesel, and even assist with installing infrastructure. Daimler and Geely - the parent companies of Mercedes-Benz and Volvo - have signed agreements to collaborate on new drivetrain technology.

Electric trucks that can do the same job as diesel ones are here. The trucks aren't an issue; it's the cost of them and the ability to charge them both now and going into the future.

EV Rally

The EV Rally has been running for years now to showcase the latest developments in electric vehicle technology. This year, a lorry joined the event for the first time: the Mercedes-Benz eActros three-axle rigid.

The event criss-crossed mainland UK visiting all the capital cities and headed over to Ireland, with a variety of special events happening along the way. Iveco brought along their eDaily van and set a towing record with it of 153 tonnes (see Truckscene, August issue). There was lots of emphasis on the word 'sustainable' and visits to green energy sites such as wind farms.

Wind farms require billions of gallons of diesel fuel and enormous quantities of concrete and aggregates to install the infrastructure alone, then there's the manufacturing of the turbines. They also seem to be harmful to birds, but nobody who is in favour of this method of power generation ever seems to mention that. Anyway, we were offered the opportunity to drive the eActros on a leg of the EV Rally.

In retrospect, it would have been good to attend a full day and night and check out all the other vehicles, and maybe even get to chat with the UK's number one EV journo Quentin Willson of old Top Gear fame. We used to like him on the old show, when he'd present segments on cut-and-shut Sierras and second-hand bargain Jags. In recent times he's become known for being really passionate about EVs and how great they are.

He was driving on the rally for headline sponsor Lex Autolease, using a variety of vehicles. Having not driven an electric truck on the road before, this was a good opportunity to do so. There were two trucks on the rally: the Merc and a DAF LF.

They weren't just there to show what the vehicles could do; they were also showing there is basically no public charging network at all for HGVs. If you want an electric truck, it really has to come home at the end of each day to be charged. We met up at the Wallyford charging hub a couple of miles to the east of Edinburgh.

It's incorporated into a park-and-ride for a train station. There is a huge amount of house building on green-belt land round here that was considered sacred just a few years ago. The site is full of big kerbs and while it could have had the potential to provide some truck parking overnight, it has clearly only been designed to accommodate buses.

Charging problems

In terms of EV charging, the eActros fits.

Unfortunately - and this is all part of the EV lottery - the truck hadn't fully charged overnight. The charger just didn't work as it was supposed to, and you can't stand over it all night to watch what it's doing. It should be on 100%, but it was on 63%.

With the truck required to drive to Cairnryan, then onto Belfast that day, this could have been a problem. However, the electric Merc does have a genuinely impressive range. It clocked up 327 miles on the way north on a single charge, and while calculations indicate it'll not have a lot left by the time it gets to Belfast, it will still manage it.

The Merc rigid features a StreamSpace cab and a continuous power output of 440 bhp, which can be boosted to 536 when necessary. As a 27-tonne rigid, it's not short of power. Electric trucks never are; that's the party piece: you get all that power and torque from standstill.

The Merc has a two-speed gearbox and you select drive in exactly the same way you would a diesel. Air suspension, nicely weighted power steering and a powerful 'engine' brake combine with the otherwise identical interior to a diesel truck to make you feel quite at home right away. For many drivers, the thing they'd have to get used to the most is the MirrorCam.

The truck glides off in near silence; there's a bit of a muted thrum from the driveline componentry. It's smooth and completely effortless. As the truck isn't fully charged, we opt not to have a play with the power mode.

Once you're on the move and above 40 mph, you soon forget it's electric. Modern diesels are that quiet on the limiter - there's little difference in driving experience at cruising speed, where many drivers will spend much of their time. The Merc went on to have a successful EV Rally.

Along with the DAF LF, it made an important point to the industry stakeholders about not only the progress and ability of these trucks, but also that there's a lot of work to be done with charging infrastructure. We're going to drive the latest eActros next month, which Merc reckons has a range of 600 km. Like we say: the trucks work.

How big a role electric will actually play across the various sectors of road transport in the years to come remains to be seen.

Purchase cost is a barrier, and the power grid needs investment on a huge scale.