FUTURE MODELS: Mercedes e-Truck — from idea to on-road reality
WHEN Tesla showed an investor group initial design sketches of a battery-electric truck recently, it received a lukewarm reception. But now, in an eye-opening portent of how Tesla could lose its premium-electric positioning to the established European players, Mercedes-Benz has actually built what Tesla has only scribbled.The Mercedes Urban e-Truck will carry up to 26 tonnes of material without emitting a single diesel particulate, gram of NOx or plume of black smoke.The all-electric truck will use energy-packed lithium-ion batteries to give it a real world range of about 200km, the company says.Claiming the Urban e-Truck would be perfect for inner-city and urban deliveries, rather than freeway running, Benz insists the clean truck could be on sale within five years. That would coincide with the instigation of tougher European Union emissions laws for passenger vehicles and heavy transport, and will give Mercedes an opportunity to pull down its corporate fleet average in CO2 emissio...
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