ACT Expo 2022: Production ECascadia Ready for 230 Miles of ‘Typical Range’

Freightliner Trucks’ new Class 8 electric tractor will be offered with two battery-size options as well as either a single or tandem eAxle.

The electric truck is configured as a 116-inch day cab ideal for last-mile delivery companies as well as drayage and warehouse operations. (DTNA)

With no surprise but plenty of fanfare, Freightliner Trucks officially revealed the first production model of the all-electric version of its Cascadia at the ACT Expo in Long Beach, California, this week. Called, also unsurprisingly, the eCascadia, the new battery-electric truck has been talked about and tested in public for many years, but now the new Class 8 tractor is rolling off the production line and is making its way to customers.

A prediction tool called eRange gives drivers a constantly updated estimate on remaining range. (DTNA)

The eCascadia will be offered with two battery-size options as well as either a single or tandem eAxle. Depending on those configurations, Freightliner Trucks, a division of Daimler Trucks North America (DTNA), said that the eCascadia will give operators a “typical range” of 230 miles (370 km). “Typical range” is DTNA’s new way of explaining just how far one of its electric trucks can reasonably go – because talking about a typical range of 230 miles is easier to understand than the sentences that follow.

Using an e-powertrain developed by Detroit (better known for its work on internal-combustion engines, axles and transmissions), the eCascadia will come with one of two battery capacities, either 438 kWh for tandem and single eAxle configurations or a 291-kWh option only for the single-axle truck. With the tandem eAxle, which incorporates two motors in the same axle, the eCascadia offers a maximum of 395 hp (295 kW) and can go an expected 220 miles (354 km). The single eAxle offers up to 195 hp (145 kW) and with the 438-kWh, long-range battery, the expected range is 230 miles.

It isn’t until you drop to the bottom of the price list – a single eAxle and the 291-kWh battery – that the expected range drops to 155 miles (250 km). The Detroit ePowertrain also is available with a smaller, 194-kWh battery that Daimler uses for other EVs. No matter which configuration is ordered, DC fast charging is available to recharge the eCascadia’s battery to 80% capacity in around 90 minutes.

DC fast charging is available to recharge the eCascadia’s battery to 80% capacity in around 90 minutes. (DTNA)

With longer-haul zero-emission trucks that use batteries or hydrogen on the horizon, the eCascadia is intended to expand the kind of all-electric freight movement to include short-haul routes with fleets that have a depot for charging. The truck is configured as a 116-inch (2946-mm) day cab, which makes sense given that last-mile delivery companies, as well as drayage and warehouse operations, are most likely to be the ones interested in the new eCascadia.

“[The eCascadia] epitomizes a paradigm shift in our company’s product and business strategy,” Rakesh Aneja, DTNA’s head of eMobility, said at the launch event. “It presents a tremendous opportunity for our customers to ease into their electric transition, and it is a step forward towards tackling our industry’s monumental decarbonization challenge.”

“This truck is solid”

Detroit ePowertrain developed the powertrain in-house. It then was tested both by DTNA engineers as well as with customers, a partnership with end users that was new for the company, according to Andreas Juretzka, senior product development lead for eMobility at DTNA. Juretzka said his team put the eCascadia through the same kind of durability tests that it employs for diesel-powered trucks, including component shakeout and extreme-ambient winter and summer tests.

Detroit ePowertrain developed the eCascadia’s powertrain in-house. (Sebastian Blanco)

DTNA put more than 1.5 million miles (2.4 million km) of testing on the eCascadia in real U.S. operations. “Lately, we also did our crash testing, and I can tell you, this truck is solid,” he said. Running a battery of tests is expected for any new vehicle model, of course, but that doesn’t mean the testing didn’t provide its own set of insights into how drivers might experience the truck differently than diesel-powered models. “What really surprised me was how quiet the system is, and how stable the system is,” Juretzka said. “For everybody who [has used] motor engine brake, and who knows how loud it is, this is a game changer.”

DTNA made sure to include safety and convenience features in the eCascadia to match or improve upon technologies to which operators might be accustomed from their diesel-engine vehicles. A prediction tool called eRange gives drivers a constantly updated estimate on remaining range; the eRange software takes all sorts of details into account, including vehicle parameters, the load the truck might be carrying, weather, traffic and elevations.

To optimize the charging of a fleet of eCascadia trucks, DTNA will offer a new Charger Management System. The CMS will allow for staggered charging of multiple vehicles as well as setting timers to have the trucks charge at off-peak-demand hours. Partial charging also will be part of the CMS, which will be released in the fourth quarter of 2022. DTNA said more features will be added to the CMS in 2023.