Daimler Trucks North America has been investing heavily in the future of their electric trucks. With the possibility of the upcoming Tesla Semi disrupting the heavy duty truck segment, Daimler has been trying everything in their power to make themselves the premier choice by providing a charging rate that would leap past Tesla’s future offering.
According to a job listing, Daimler is looking towards pushing the envelope when it comes to charging systems. Within the responsibilities of a posting for an “eMobility Senior Engineer – Vehicle Charging Systems (L5)”, is the following:
Lead future strategy, concepts, and innovation for next generation advanced charging systems, including strategies for very high power charging up to 3MW.
For comparison, Tesla’s charger for their Semi, known as the Megacharger, is believed to have a charge rate of 1 Megawatt (MW). With electric trucks and semis having battery capacities an order of magnitude higher than passenger cars (i.e. 50 kWh vs. 500 kWh), the same increase in power is required for the chargers.
Currently, Tesla’s 1 MW Megacharger would be roughly analogous to their original Supercharger V2 at 120 kW. Daimler’s plan would be to have a “fast-charger” for electric trucks, with a 3x jump to 3 MW, similar to the jump to 350 kW charging we are seeing right now in passenger car charging infrastructure.
Tesla might be once again conservative in their charging rates, just like they have been with their Superchargers. After all their newly introduced Supercharger V3 provides only 250 kW instead of the 300 kW+ that all other ultra-fast charging solutions are aiming for.
However, that does not mean that Daimler will pull any punches. The company has been very outspoken about Tesla’s plans for their Semi. The company has stated that Tesla will “learn the hard way” regarding the trucking business, and that Daimler will put more electric trucks on the road by 2020. Daimler has already delivered their eActros and eM2 106 electric trucks to certain customers. Additionally, they believe that their upcoming eCascadia class-8 electric Semi will compare positively to the Tesla Semi.
What do you think of Daimler’s electric truck plans? Do you think 3 MW charging is feasible to achieve? Let us know down in the comments below.
Source: Electrek
