Elon Musk made the headlines again recently, this time by the announcement of an electric truck with a range of up to 800 kilometers and an equally spectacular charging time of only half an hour. The reaction was divided between “wow” and “see first, then believe”. In the meantime, closer to home, VDL is steadily building up its own electric fleet. Buses and vans are already part of this, an electric truck will be added at the beginning of next year.
DAF provides the basis for the truck, to which VDL then adds an electric motor and a battery pack. A range of 800 kilometers, as planned by Tesla, is not yet in scope, says VDL’s Miel Timmers. But that is not necessary either. “As with electric buses, e-truck transport will focus on city centers and the immediate vicinity to and from distribution centers just outside those cities. The reach of our e-truck will be approximately 120 km.”
The launch of the e-trucks is now scheduled for “the first quarter of 2018”. Initially, the intention was to do this already in mid-2017, but because of large orders for the electric buses (Connexxion ordered 100 large buses and more than 100 midsize buses), among other things, this was postponed.
Where the trucks are to be built is not yet known.
