Daimler Truck's Journ.e event highlights electric trucks

The truck is not escaping electrification. Truck manufacturers and carriers are investing more and more in electric trucks, on their way to greener mobility. Yet for some, switching to e-mobility still seems like a pipe dream. To convince them, Daimler Truck organized seventeen Journ.e days this year in five European countries during which customers could get behind the wheel of an e-truck. Flemish Minister of Mobility and Public Works Lydia Peeters also attended.

In recent months, the star brand pulled out all the stops to introduce customers, prospects, journalists and influencers to the strengths of its latest e-truck models. The Journ.e event descended on Italy, Austria, Germany and the Netherlands, accounting for 3,700 kilometers and a good number of test drives. Also in our country, customers were able to discover Daimler Truck's e-mobility solutions. On May 30 and June 1, 2023 dozens of interested parties descended on the Droneport in Sint-Truiden, where the truck manufacturer's new electric Actros and Econic were ready for a test drive.

In addition to the opportunity to take a test drive, attendees were also updated on the state of electric driving on a legal and practical level. On June 1, Flemish Minister of Mobility and Public Works Lydia Peeters also visited Journ.e. She was introduced to Daimler Truck's ambitious e-mobility plans. In this magazine, you can read an extensive interview with Minister Peeters, in which she explains her vision of transport and logistics in Flanders.

Ambitious future plan

A switch to electric trucks may still seem futuristic to some, yet Daimler Truck is already unpacking an ambitious plan for the future today. By 2030, they want 60% of all their trucks sold to be either electric or fuel cell powered. Ten years later, by 2039, this proportion should rise to 100%, if any truck from the German brand still has a combustion engine on board. During the event in Sint-Truiden, Peter Brock, CEO of Daimler Truck Belux, explained this plan to the customers present. At the same time, he and his immediate staff spoke at length about this topic with Minister Peeters.

Together in the driver's seat

The plans were music to the minister's ears, not least because, as a Flemish policymaker, she herself has ambitious plans for electromobility. She has long been convinced of the environmental potential of emission-free trucks. That conviction, incidentally, was reinforced by a test drive aboard the eActros. One thing is clear: policy makers, manufacturers and customers are together in the driver's seat to finally take the road to electric driving.

Concerns

CEO Peter Brock took advantage of the event to express a number of concerns prevalent in the sector, drawing attention to the still high investment cost of electric trucks, charging infrastructure (read: too slow rollout of charging points) and electric capacity. An efficient and quick approach to these action points becomes crucial to create a sufficiently large support base among all parties who need to embrace e-mobility. Minister Peeters admitted that this is a difficult race against time, but that she wants to set things in motion through a variety of incentives. Hope drives. ■