Recent testing for the battery-electric Mercedes-Benz eActros 300 has included driving a tractor unit from the Arctic Circle to Stuttgart, Germany.

The six-day, 3000km trip is a long-haul test for a truck designed primarily for regional distribution roles and also subjected the eActros to a wide variety of climatic and topographical conditions.

Customers are not likely to use the Mercedes-Benz eActros 300 as a tractor unit for this kind of a long journey. However, being able to test the vehicle in real operation for several days at a time under the most varied climatic and topographical conditions is an ideal the opportunity for the developers to optimise its systems.

The truck tested was a near-series prototype of the eActros 300 tractor which celebrated its trade fair premiere at IAA Transportation 2022 in Hanover.  Production is scheduled to start later this year.

Before the 3,000km journey, Mercedes-Benz Trucks engineers had already extensively tested the vehicle in winter conditions at temperatures down to minus-25degC in Rovaniemi, Finland.

In addition to handling on icy and snowy roads, the focus was particularly on the starting properties and protection of the drive components, software and interfaces from low temperatures. On the return journey, the main objective was to take a closer look at the eActros loaded to 25 tonnes in real traffic. 

“The journey from Rovaniemi to Stuttgart showed that the eActros 300 as a tractor unit reliably masters all challenges before its market launch,” says Dr. Christof Weber, Head of Global Testing Mercedes-Benz Trucks.

“This applies in terms of energy efficiency and charging, as well as driving comfort and safety.”

From Rovaniemi the truck travelled via Stockholm, Malmö, Copenhagen, Nyborg, Flensburg, Hamburg, then on the A7 highway down to Würzburg and from there via the A81 highway back to Stuttgart.

Equipped with three battery packages – each with 112kWh of installed battery capacity – the truck has a range of up to 220km.

“In advance, we planned the individual stages precisely and very conservatively with around 150km in order to be able to drive to the planned charging points without any problems, even in traffic jams or stop-and-go traffic,” says Marc Schniederjan, team leader at Mercedes-Benz Trucks, responsible for the operation of test vehicles and who coordinated and supervised the return journey.

The eActros was charged on average three times a day at public DC high-power charging stations along the route. The truck was also pre-conditioned at charging stations in order to avoid using too much battery energy and thus shorten the range.

“With only minimal temperatures below zero, the loss of range was limited even without pre-conditioning,” says Schniederjan.

In addition to measuring the measuring the increased range offered by recuperation, the testing has also fine-tuned the operation of the safety and driver assist systems fitted to the eActros in extreme winter conditions including the second-generation MirrorCam technology.