Daimler Truck continues to push the transformation to CO2-neutral transportation with further deliveries of the FUSO eCanter, its fully electric light-duty truck, in the second quarter of 2021. Overall FUSO has now delivered more than 250 eCanter since the beginning of small series production in 2017 to customers in Europe, Japan, the United States and New Zealand. More deliveries are set to follow successively.
The FUSO eCanter is Daimler Truck’s first all-electric light-duty truck in small-series production. As a 7.49-tonne vehicle with a range of over 100 km, a top speed of 80 km/h and an output of 129 kW, the FUSO eCanter has everything it needs for ecological and economic operation in urban centres. Its agility on top makes the eCanter the ideal vehicle for green inner-city distribution transport.
Customers deploy FUSO eCanter in various use cases across Europe
Following the market launch of the FUSO eCanter in Switzerland earlier this year, another Swiss logistics company, Rhyner Logistik, has integrated the FUSO eCanter into its fleet in June. The company uses the electric light-duty truck for inner-city short-range distribution in Zurich: “We need vehicles that reach their destination quickly and safely, especially in narrow urban streets,” explains Stefan Greub, CEO and Managing Director of Rhyner Logistik. “The eCanter even fits into underground car parks and its electric drive brings clear advantages in stop-and-go city traffic.” By adding the FUSO eCanter, Rhyner Logistik aims to push forward the electrification of its fleet.
In the UK, Warburtons recently grabbed another slice of the EV action with the locally-emission free FUSO eCanter. The UK’s largest bakery brand uses the light-duty truck already early in the morning, setting of at 4am each day from Warburtons’ Bolton bakery to deliver fresh bread to about 25 different customers, mainly in the central Manchester area.
“Our first impressions of the eCanter are certainly positive,” confirmed Steve Gray, Warburtons National Transport Manager. “Its range is more than adequate for our needs and it has been well received by our drivers. It’s smaller than a conventional 7.5-tonner and this compact footprint, coupled with an excellent turning circle that makes it highly manoeuvrable, is a definite advantage for city centre work.”
Proving its versatility, the FUSO eCanter is now even on duty as an electric beer truck in the Netherlands. In July, the famous Dutch brewery Heineken received a modified version of the eCanter with a special tank mounted on the back that can be filled with up to 3,000 litres of beer. The brewery uses the light-duty truck for the inner-city distribution of beer to local bars in Amsterdam.
During the second quarter, DB Schenker, largest electric fleet customer of FUSO, has taken further deliveries of the eCanter. This concludes a larger order over 36 vehicles in 11 European countries announced last October. In Italy, for example, two trucks have been added to the DB Schenker fleet in Milan, signifying yet another market entry for the eCanter in Europe.
Further electrifying Milestones in Japan and New Zealand
The success of the eCanter also continues in its home market in Japan, where two units of the FUSO eCanter were delivered to Shikoku Meitetsu Transportation in July. Here the light-duty trucks are in charge of general cargo transportation in Matsuyama City. Making e-Mobility history, they represent the first electric trucks in the Shikoku region.
Another milestone celebrated in July is the launch of the eCanter in yet another new market: New Zealand. Earlier this year, FUSO New Zealand was granted co-funding by the Ministry of Energy and Resources for operational trials of the eCanter. Five eCanter trucks have since been deployed in the Auckland area for an extended test period. Since July, Genesis Energy Limited, a leading power supplier in New Zealand, uses the country’s first eCanter in customer operations for deliveries in its fleet of around 110 trucks.
This means that the FUSO eCanter is now operated by customers in 16 different countries worldwide: Germany, France, Netherlands, UK, Portugal, Denmark, Ireland, Norway, Finland, Spain, Italy, Austria, Switzerland, USA, Japan and New Zealand.