MAN Debuts Prototype Electric Truck In Nuremberg, Production To Begin In 2024
MAN Truck & Bus is bumping up the timeline to its production of zero-emission commercial vehicles, announcing at a recent event that the first 200 electric trucks will be produced at the beginning of 2024. This puts MAN a year ahead of its previously announced schedule for heavy-duty electric trucks. MAN also presented a near-production prototype at the event to show the immense progress it’s made on battery-electric trucks and announced it’s participating in a Bavarian-funded hydrogen fuel cell project and working to develop a fuel cell truck with Bosch, Faurecia, and ZF.
"MAN is accelerating its transformation and taking big steps towards emission-free drive systems,” says Alexander Vlaskamp, chairman of the executive board of MAN Truck & Bus. “Our focus at MAN and in the TRATON GROUP is clearly on battery-electric drives. They form the basis for our heavy-duty e-trucks, which we will be launching on the market from 2024. Only when sufficient green hydrogen and the corresponding infrastructure are available well after 2030 do we expect to use H2 trucks in selected areas of application. That is why we are researching the topic of hydrogen and the funding from the state of Bavaria enables us to build up further expertise in the field."
E-mobility Solutions
According to MAN, battery-electric vehicle technology has already reached the basic level where customers can receive cost-optimised, practical options among MAN trucks, buses, and vans to aid in their journey toward climate neutrality. MAN’s next step is to increase the support system for battery-electric, heavy-duty trucks.
“We need to drive the electrification of our fleet even faster,” says Vlaskamp. “We will only succeed in ramping up e-mobility if we support our customers in their transition and convince them to do so. To this end, we are creating integrated digital solutions and charging offers.”
MAN sees its eConsulting as a service that will be essential for customers transitioning fleets to battery-electric power. The eConsulting service will help perform an analysis of a customer’s needs (before the purchase of an electric truck) and follow up in the operational phase to improve cost optimisation, route analysis, and charging infrastructure.
MAN Battery Pack Production
At MAN’s Mobility Technical Centre at the Nuremberg, the company is testing electric vehicles and developing battery packs to optimise production. MAN says its Lion’s City E has already shown what range is possible back in 2021 when the City E bus travelled 550 kilometres (341 miles) on a public transport line in Munich without recharging. The manufacturer also says in-house assembly of its battery packs provides added value for customers.
Hydrogen Fuel Cell Project
MAN announced that the state of Bavaria is funding a Bayernflotte (Bavarian fleet) project as part of the state’s own hydrogen strategy, and MAN received funding to develop fuel cell tracks that will be delivered to five customers in 2024. MAN believes its battery-electric vehicle technology can serve as a blueprint, with weight benefits for replacing heavy batteries with lighter hydrogen tanks and fuel cells. The promising value for hydrogen fuel cell commercial vehicles, however, is likely to be realised on a later timeline than battery-electric trucks, due to infrastructure and supply limitations and the “significantly higher” costs related to using hydrogen.
Find The Right MAN Truck
You’ll find a big selection of new and used MAN trucks and buses for sale on Truck Locator.
Source: MAN