Mercedes-Benz Trucks successfully charges eActros 600 prototype at 1MW charging station
The test was performed at the in-house development and testing centre in Wörth am Rhein and the station was compliant with the MCS charging standard, which plays a central role when it comes to public charging along important transport axes, according to Mercedes.
According to Rainer Müller-Finkeldei, Head of Mercedes-Benz Trucks Product Engineering, the developers used equipment conforming to the newly defined MCS Standard to charge the e-truck in the shortest possible time with full charging capacity.
“This was an outstanding feat of engineering and customers placing high demands on range and vehicle availability will benefit in particular from megawatt charging using this standard in future,” he says.
Now that the initial testing has been done, development engineers at Mercedes-Benz Trucks will now conduct further trials of the communications interface between the vehicle and charging station, defined as part of MCS standard.
Megawatt charging is especially useful for public charging infrastructure. The eActros 600 has a range of 500km, enough for 60% of European long distance freight journeys, according to Mercedes research. However, For all other user cases, continual expansion of public charging infrastructure is vital in order to make the electric truck viable for long-distance haulage across the continent. Megawatt charging has great potential specifically for such demanding application cases.
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