DB Schenker plans to rely on 100 MAN eTrucks by 2026. First deliveries expected in early 2024

DB Schenker showed the intention to purchase at least 100 MAN eTrucks in the next few years. The very first electric trucks will be produced in a small series by MAN in 2024, as announced multiple times, including at the last IAA Transportation event. The agreement signed between DB Schenker and MAN makes the German transportation company the very first pilot customer for MAN’s electric trucks.

100 MAN eTrucks for DB Schenker

DB Schenker wants to gain practical experience with the product as early as possible. This also includes setting up its own charging infrastructure, intelligent route planning and other digital services from MAN Digital Solutions such as eManager, ServiceCare and MAN Driver App. DB Schenker is therefore supported by 360° consulting from MAN Transport Solutions, including route analysis, charging strategy, charging infrastructure planning and energy demand optimisation.

The first MAN eTrucks for DB Schenker will be volume semitrailer tractors, so-called ultra semitrailer tractors. The low semitrailer height of around 950 mm makes it possible to transport electrically volume trailers with an internal height of 3 metres. Ten MAN eTrucks that DB Schenker will receive in 2024 will be ultra-tractor units. The other electric trucks to be delivered in 2025 and 2026 are planned as ultra-tractor units and swap body trucks.

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For the first time, a Design Verification prototype Volta Zero operated on roads and in real distribution environments in Paris. The full-electric 16-tonne Volta Zero will be used in DB Schenker’s European terminals to transport goods from distribution hubs to the city centres and urban areas.

The production of the future eTrucks has been prepared at MAN since 2021 in the MAN eMobility Center, as conventional diesel trucks and electric trucks will run off one assembly line during the ramp-up of electromobility. To this end, the workflows and process steps of planners, designers and start-up experts are mapped with pinpoint accuracy and any necessary adjustments are taken up immediately by the vehicle developers. MAN also plans to manufacture the high-voltage batteries in Nuremberg from the beginning of 2025. To this end, the company is investing around 100 million euros over the next five years at the tradition-steeped production site for internal combustion engines.

Statements from the partners

“DB Schenker and MAN are pacing the path to an electric future together. We are very pleased to have our first customer for the new eTruck. The demand in the market for this fully electric vehicle is already enormous. The topic is now really picking up speed, also because more and more of our customers are setting themselves extremely ambitious decarbonisation targets. This has a direct impact on the logistics chains. However, we will only be able to achieve a sustainable mobility turnaround in heavy goods transport with the appropriate political support. This concerns, among other things, the rapid development of the charging infrastructure and also the fur[1]ther design of the funding framework for the acquisition of electric trucks,” said Alexander Vlaskamp, CEO of MAN Truck & Bus.

Cyrille Bonjean, Head of Land Transport at DB Schenker Europe, added: “We want to build up practical experience with e-trucks as early as possible. In this way, we can quickly create an offer for the economy to make supply chains more climate-friendly. That’s why it was important for us to get the first MAN eTrucks. This brings us another step closer to our goal of being net zero on the road in land transport by 2040.”