Schneider announced that it is participating in the all-electric Freightliner Customer Experience (CX) Fleet.

The CX Fleet is a part of Daimler Trucks North America (DTNA)’s ongoing initiative that engages customers in the commercial electric vehicle development process by deploying trucks in real-world applications, the company says.

“From a driver’s perspective, they’ll experience a great ride. The truck is very quiet with little to no vibration, and a straight acceleration means there’s no real loss of power or torque. The overall feel is very smooth,” said Jake VandeLoo, vice president of equipment engineering at Schneider.

Schneider will test the eCascadia, a Class 8 tractor, to detect and address potential challenges to widespread use of commercial battery electric vehicles. Schneider will monitor the following processes and characteristics to help provide actionable feedback:

• The best type of mode, freight characteristics and areas of operation for the vehicle’s charge range;
• The charging requirements to help maximize the duty cycle; and
• Facility modifications needed to accommodate electric trucks.

Data and observations will be provided to Freightliner to help the company improve on future vehicle design.

“It’s critical that we collaborate with customers across multiple segments to further our understanding of how commercial battery-electric trucks will be part of a long-term solution in CO2-neutral transportation,” said Richard Howard, senior vice president of on-highway sales and marketing at DTNA. “Our customers provide important, continuous feedback that contributes to our ongoing design and purposeful innovation of these trucks, and together we will lead the future.”

Schneider is set to deploy the eCascadia later this summer and will continue testing it through summer 2021.

Read more on DTNA’s plans for electrification in our interview here.