Even at the IAA Commercial Vehicles from Sept. 22 to 29, 2016, electric transportation was talked about – albeit not very much. For example, Volkswagen presented his e-Crafter concept study, which even EU Commissioner Günther Oettinger and federal transportation minister Alexander Dobrindt paid a visit during their trade show tour. Delivery of the first units of this electric transporter with a top speed of 80 kph (50 mph) is expected for this year.
In Hanover, Daimler presented – or rather, “unveiled” for the first time –a solution for a city’s short-radius distribution: Urban e-Truck. However, the electric vehicle weighing up to 26 tons will be sold only at the beginning of the next decade. But another Daimler project unveiled at the trade show, the third generation of the Fuso eCanter, is said to be available for purchase over the coming months. Wolfgang Bernhard, who had been Daimler Board member and head of the Trucks & Buses division until he was placed on leave in February 2017, explained: “So far, manufacturers have made very limited use of electric engines in trucks. Meanwhile, costs, performance and charging times have changed so rapidly that we see a turnaround in short-radius distribution. We believe it is very likely that electric engines will be available on the heavy-duty distribution market at the start of the next decade.”
When it comes to hydrogen, Hyundai was for the most part the only carmaker on the entire tradeshow premises to present a new vehicle based on the technology: The H350 Fuel Cell Concept is a fuel cell bus in the gross vehicle weight category of up to 3.5 tons. Its high-pressure tanks hold 175 liters of hydrogen (7 kilograms) – enough for up to 422 kilometers (262 miles) on the road. Its top speed is 150 kph or 93 mph.