Mercedes-Benz Adds Another Electrified Garbage Truck to the Lineup With New eEconic

The Mercedes-Benz eEconic and eActross are the cleanest trash trucks around.Photo: Daimler Truck

Daimler Truck is kicking off production of its second EV truck, the Mercedes-Benz eEconic. This latest EV from Daimler Truck follows up on production of the Mercedes-Benz eActros, which was the first EV to roll off the assembly line at the company’s Wörth plant in October of 2021. That makes two production EVs from Daimler in less than one year, both of which will serve as garbage trucks for municipal fleets abroad.

The Mercedes-Benz eEconic is largely based on the the eActros, so it shares the same specifications. It’s even got the same ePowertrain. Hmm. Daimler is really leaning into the single-letter “e” prefix here. But if that means heavy-duty trucks used daily to perform essential duties in cities can go fully-electric, I’m all for it.

Photo: Daimler Truck

Since it shares the same EV drivetrain as the eActros, the eEconic will probably have two liquid-cooled motors making a continuous 443 horsepower, and peak 536 HP. These ride over an electric rigid axle, with power flowing through a two-speed transmission. The EV trucks can be ordered with either three or four battery packs, each pack being 112kWh.

The heavy-duty EVs will support DC fast charging, and trucks with three battery packs, like the eActros 300, will go from 20 to 80 percent state of charge in a little over one hour. It’ll take longer than that for trucks with four battery packs (eActros 400,) but these will have a range of up to 400 kilometers, or 249 miles.

Photo: Daimler Truck

Daimler Truck says the Mercedes-Benz eEconic was designed to cover a typical waste collection route in European cities without needing to be charged at any point along the way. The first eEconic to roll off the assmebly line is going to Denmark, where it’ll pick up trash without producing as much environmental waste as its ICE-powered counterpart, the Mercedes-Benz Econic — without the little “e” prefix.

But orders are already coming in from other customers and municipalities for the eEconic. Daimler plans to only sell carbon neutral trucks by 2039 in its major markets. Now that the eEconic joins the eActros, Daimler might actually get there: two EV trucks in one year is not a bad start.

Photo: Daimler Truck