EV Trucks; Daimler-Benz; Portland, OR; California Grant; And All That Jazz -- August 25, 2019

Back to the Daimler / EV truck story which I mentioned earlier but never got back to until now.

Posted earlier: shis has to do with EV trucks being built by Daimler (the Mercedes Benz company) in Portland, Oregon:

• Quiet launch: Daimler builds first electric heavy-duty semis for fleet test, August 14, 2019
• Daimler will convert Portland factory to make electric trucks, April 24, 2019

First link:

Tesla might have been the first to generate a lot of fanfare over an all-electric Semi, but it’s not the first to actually place an electric Semi with customers for full-time use.

That nod would go to Daimler Trucks North America. The initial two Freightliner eCascadia semis were built [in Portland, OR] this week for its Electric Innovation Fleet—funded by a $16 million California grant—and they’ll be placed into duty later this month by the Southern California operations of two companies: Penske Truck Leasing and NFI.

The company’s intent is to test how the trucks fare in large-scale fleet conditions, and the innovation fleet “will inform the final production versions” of its two upcoming electric trucks, the eCascadia, and the medium-duty Freightliner eM2. Daimler also has an Electric Vehicle Council of 38 customers “to identify and address all potential hurdles to large-scale deployment of commercial battery electric vehicles.”

How much range these trucks can achieve, while performing the tasks they’re expected to—year round—has been one of the great challenges for development teams. Daimler has quoted a range figure of 250 miles from the eCascadia pack’s 550 kwh of usable capacity (with an 80-percent charge possible in about 90 minutes), while Tesla has stuck to claims of versions offering 300 and 500 miles. 

From the second link:

Daimler Trucks North America said Wednesday it will begin making electric Freightliner trucks in Portland and expects to start local production in 2021.

Daimler had already been developing electrification technology at its research labs on Swan Island but had previously said it would manufacture its electric trucks in North Carolina. On Wednesday, though, Daimler said it will begin converting its existing Freightliner factory in Portland to make electric vehicles.

The big story here?

Daimler had originally planned to build these truck on the east coast (North Carolina) but will now build the first ones on the west coast (Portland, OR).

Over the past few years there has been a bit of "tension," shall we say among workers at the two big Daimler factories in the US. First, there was just the one, at Portland. Daimler then built another truck manufacturing plant in North Carolina, causing some anxiety among the Oregon workers.

Then came the announcement that the first Daimler EV trucks would be built at their North Carolina factory, causing more anxiety among the Oregon workers.

Now two data points of interest:

• Daimler has unveiled the first EV semi built in Portland; and, 
• there is word that Daimler has bought another site north of Portland, in Washington state. The site is undeveloped; no word what that site might be used for.