There’s more nuance in running a heavy-duty electric truck compared to a diesel hauler. At least, at first. Range only creates anxiety until you understand and have worked with it. To ensure loads get to where they need to go, there’s front end work that has to be done, namely route planning and charging strategy. After the electric truck runs the route, there’s the opportunity for driver training to improve range even further–the driver properly using regenerative braking, for instance.
When Daimler Truck North America unveiled the production-series Freightliner eCascadia, it also launched a bevy of digital tools to support the Class 8 electric truck. A charger management system is integrated directly into the Detroit Connect portal to report on depot utilization, generate data for grant compliance and Low Carbon Fuel Standard credit reporting, and leverage demand-response incentives from local utilities. The eRange prediction tool automatically and accurately calculates and displays range over the course of a proposed trip and allows for testing of “what-if” scenarios and performs analysis. And, battery health monitoring tracks and gives visibility into the eCascadia battery’s state-of-health percentage, state-of-charge percentage, remaining range miles, and charging status. Based on actual trip data, users can visualize and quantify operational differences between trips.
It’s a lot, but it’s useful and necessary when adding electric trucks to your fleet. To learn more, I stopped by the DTNA booth at ACT Expo 2022 and talked with Lukas Trampert, product line manager, connectivity services group, about the data-driven electric truck operation details. Watch the video above for all of his insight.
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