First eActros as a fully electric car transporter in Denmark

The battery‑electric truck from Mercedes‑Benz Trucks transports new passenger vehicles among other things on a fixed route between Vamdrup in Denmark and Bremerhaven in northern Germany, more than 380 kilometers away.

The battery‑electric car transporter is based on a 4x2 eActros 600 tractor unit with ProCabin cab and a two‑axle trailer. It is designed to carry up to six vehicles. In addition to the three battery packs of the tractor unit, a separate battery is installed on the trailer to supply the hydraulic systems during loading and unloading, thereby conserving the truck’s main batteries. 

For Dansk Auto Logik, operating the fully electric car transporter also serves to evaluate the existing charging infrastructure and economic efficiency in cross‑border transport between Denmark and Germany, with the aim of gaining robust insights for the future use of battery‑electric commercial vehicles in vehicle logistics. At its Vamdrup site, the company has invested in its own charging points. On the return trip from Bremerhaven to Vamdrup, the eActros 600 is recharged at public charging stations along the route in Germany.

Lars Vestergaard, CEO at Dansk Auto Logik: “With the eActros 600, we made a conscious decision to enter electric long‑haul transport now, to gain our own experience and to learn in real‑world operations how range, charging and infrastructure actually work in practice. The eActros 600 impresses us from a technical standpoint and represents a consistent first step toward electric vehicle logistics for our company.” And the driving pleasure? The CEO himself tested it over the first 400 kilometers. The conclusion was clear: “I have never driven a truck that drives so well.”

About the eActros 600

Mercedes-Benz Trucks celebrated the start of series launch of the eActros 600 at the Mercedes-Benz Wörth plant at the end of 2024, and the vehicle has since been in daily operation on roads in more than 15 European countries.

The electric flagship from Mercedes-Benz Trucks has already proven its capabilities several times under real-life conditions prior to the series launch: In customer use and as part of the “eActros 600 European Testing Tour 2024”, a 15,000-kilometer all-electric development trip through a total of 22 countries and the “European Testing Tour Winter 2025” on around 6,500 kilometers through Northern Europe, each with a gross combination mass of 40 tons. In addition, the e-truck was voted “International Truck of the Year 2025”. The award is the most important prize in the industry and is presented annually by the International Truck of the Year (IToY) organization, consisting of 24 commercial vehicle journalists from Europe.

The high battery capacity of over 600 kilowatt hours - hence the model designation 600 – and a new, particularly efficient electric drive axle developed in-house enable the eActros 600 to achieve a range of 500 kilometers[1] without intermediate charging. This range is accomplished under very realistic and practical conditions with a gross combination mass of 40 tons, which can also be significantly exceeded depending on the driving style and the route. The eActros 600 will even be able to cover well over 1,000 kilometers per day. Intermediate charging during statutory driver breaks makes this possible, provided that charging options are available.

The eActros 600 has three battery packs, each with 207 kWh[2]. These offer an installed total capacity of 621 kWh. The batteries are based on lithium iron phosphate cell technology (LFP) and are characterized by a long service life. The development engineers at Mercedes-Benz Trucks designed the eActros 600 to meet the same requirements for the durability of vehicles and components as a comparable conventional heavy-duty long-haul Actros. This means up to 1.2 million kilometers in ten years of operation. After this period of use, the battery state of health should still be above 80 percent. In contrast to other battery cell technologies, more than 95 percent of the installed capacity can also be used with LFP technology. This facilitates a higher range with the same installed battery capacity. The vehicle is technically designed for a gross combination mass of up to 44 tons. With a standard semitrailer, the eActros 600 has a payload of around 22 tons in the EU. There might be cases in which national law allows higher payloads.

In order to meet even more customer requirements, Mercedes-Benz Trucks recently expanded its battery-electric truck portfolio with additional variants based on the Mercedes-Benz eActros 600. Depending on their requirements in terms of range, payload, and comfort, customers will be able to choose between two cab variants, two or three battery packs, numerous wheelbases, and new axle configurations. The second model generation of the eActros thus offers over 40 variants of the base vehicle. The new vehicle versions feature the key characteristics of the eActros 600, such as LFP battery technology and the specially developed eAxle.