MAN eTruck undergoes winter testing

MAN has concluded four months of Arctic testing of its battery-electric eTruck, which is scheduled to be launched late next year. 30 test engineers were involved with the winter testing, which is part of an extensive programme to evaluate the new long-haul range in a wide variety of operational conditions. As well as the tests which are being carried out on the whole vehicles, the individual battery packs, which MAN will build in-house, are also being subjected to extreme resting in areas such as resistance to fire, water immersion and impact.

The man in charge, Rainer Miksch, vice president of vehicle testing, MAN Truck & Bus, explains: "Interdisciplinary teams are the key to making the eTruck ready for all customer requirements and operating conditions. Our goal is to be able to cover a large part of today's application portfolio electrically with the new eTruck. The CO2-free long-distance transport of refrigerated goods in the classic semitrailer combination will be just as possible as the collection of milk from the organic farmer with the electric food tanker or the low-noise and emission-free waste disposal in the city," explains "Meeting the sometimes extremely different operating conditions with regard to the diverse applications of our customers is the fine art of commercial vehicle development. But now that the eTruck has more than fulfilled our expectations in winter testing, the entire test and development team is already looking forward to the upcoming validations and summer testing in order to get one step closer to large-scale production of the electric truck again."

MAN executive board member for Research and Development, Dr Frederik Zohm, adds “The winter tests were a complete success. Our engineers literally put the new eTruck through its paces day and night under the toughest conditions. The maturity level is already extremely high and the development team is working with great passion on the further trials to provide our customers with an optimal product for the switch to CO2-free road freight transport."

MAN will be exhibiting at this year’s Road Transport Expo, which takes place at Stoneleigh NAEC on June 28-30. It’s FREE to attend, and registrations are now open.

MAN eTruck undergoes winter testing

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Colin Barnett