Daimler Truck secures order of 200 electric Freightliners for California

Velocity Truck Rental & Leasing has placed a large order of 200 electric Freightliner trucks, which will mainly be used in Southern California. The Freightliner eM2 medium duty and eCascadia heavy-duty e-trucks have a driving range of up to 230 miles and will be offered to Velocity’s fleet customers, including a charging service.

Daimler Truck’s American sub-brand Freightliner has managed to secure a large order for its newest electric medium and heavy-duty trucks: 125 Class 8 (heavy-duty) Cascadia and 75 Class 6 & 7 (medium to heavy-duty) eM2 will be delivered to Velocity Truck Rental & Leasing by 2025, who in turn will offer them to its customers in Southern California.

Charging included

The first 5 Freightliner eCascadia trucks for Velocity are already in use by Arrowlink Logistics, which operates in the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. Velocity is also training the drivers and installing 39 dual-port 150 kW fast-chargers at its Southern California locations, which are available to its customers and allow these trucks to achieve an 80% state of charge in 90 minutes or less with dual port charging.

The Freightliner eCascadia is a heavy-duty truck operating in the same class as the Tesla Semi, but with a lower range of up to 230 miles (370 km) thanks to its 438 kWh battery, compared to 500 miles and around 900 kWh for the Tesla truck. It is available in 4×2 or 6×4 configurations and offers a payload of up to 30 tons.

The eM2 is slightly smaller and typically used as a box truck, with a payload of up to 15 tons (as a Class 7 truck) with a similar range of up to 230 miles (370 km) with a 291 kWh battery.