Truck & Off-Highway Engineering - June 2022 - 29

ORIGINAL
EQUIPMENT
Production eCascadia ready for 230 miles of 'typical range'
Detroit developed the eCascadia's e-powertrain in-house. The truck will be offered with two battery-size options and either a single or tandem eAxle.
With no surprise but plenty of fanfare,
Freightliner Trucks officially revealed the
first production model of the all-electric
version of its Cascadia at the ACT Expo
in Long Beach, California, in May. Called,
also unsurprisingly, the eCascadia, the
new battery-electric truck has been talked
about and tested in public for many
years, but now the new Class 8 tractor is
rolling off the production line and is
making its way to customers.
The eCascadia will be offered with
two battery-size options as well as either
a single or tandem eAxle.
Depending on those configurations,
Freightliner Trucks, a division of
Daimler Trucks North America (DTNA),
said that the eCascadia will give operators
a " typical range " of 230 miles (370
km). " Typical range " is DTNA's new way
of explaining just how far one of its
electric trucks can reasonably go - because
talking about a typical range of
230 miles is easier to understand than
TRUCK & OFF-HIGHWAY ENGINEERING
the sentences that follow.
Using an e-powertrain developed by
Detroit (better known for its work on
internal-combustion engines, axles and
transmissions), the eCascadia will come
with one of two battery capacities, either
438 kWh for tandem and single eAxle
configurations or a 291-kWh option only
for the single-axle truck. With the tandem
eAxle, which incorporates two motors
in the same axle, the eCascadia offers
a maximum of 395 hp (295 kW) and
can go an expected 220 miles (354 km).
The single eAxle offers up to 195 hp (145
kW) and with the 438-kWh, long-range
battery, the expected range is 230 miles.
It isn't until you drop to the bottom
of the price list - a single eAxle and the
291-kWh battery - that the expected
range drops to 155 miles (250 km). The
Detroit ePowertrain also is available
with a smaller, 194-kWh battery that
Daimler uses for other EVs. No matter
which configuration is ordered, DC fastcharging
is available to recharge the
eCascadia's battery to 80% capacity in
around 90 minutes.
With longer-haul zero-emission trucks
that use batteries or hydrogen on the
horizon, the eCascadia is intended to
expand the kind of all-electric freight
movement to include short-haul routes
with fleets that have a depot for charging.
The truck is configured as a 116-inch
(2946-mm) day cab, which makes sense
given that last-mile delivery companies,
as well as drayage and warehouse operations,
are most likely to be the ones
interested in the new eCascadia.
" [The eCascadia] epitomizes a paradigm
shift in our company's product and
business strategy, " Rakesh Aneja, DTNA's
head of eMobility, said at the launch
event. " It presents a tremendous opportunity
for our customers to ease into
their electric transition, and it is a step
forward towards tackling our industry's
monumental decarbonization challenge. "
June 2022 29
SEBASTIAN BLANCO

Truck & Off-Highway Engineering - June 2022

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