![Mercedes-Benz_eActros_600_(1)[1]](https://d2cohhpa0jt4tw.cloudfront.net/Pictures/274x183/8/1/8/17818_mercedesbenz_eactros_600_11_556244.jpg)
An electric car transporter is hauling up to six passenger cars across the Denmark–Germany border, but it needs a second battery on the trailer to keep the loading system from eating into the truck’s range.
A Danish vehicle logistics operator has put a 4x2 Mercedes-Benz eActros 600 to work using home depot charging and public chargers for the return route.
Dansk Auto Logik is using the battery-electric tractor, paired with a two-axle car transporter trailer, on a fixed route of more than 380km between Vamdrup in Denmark and Bremerhaven in northern Germany, hauling new passenger vehicles. New cars are the primary cargo, according to Daimler Truck.
Dansk Auto Logik has its own chargers at the Vamdrup site, and the truck recharges at public stations in Germany on the return leg from Bremerhaven.
The trailer carries a separate battery to power the hydraulics used during loading and unloading, which Daimler Truck says is designed to spare the tractor’s traction batteries.
Lars Vestergaard, chief executive of Dansk Auto Logik, said the company wanted data from a working route rather than a controlled trial.
“With the eActros 600, we made a conscious decision to enter electric long-haul transport, to gain our own experience and to learn in real-world operations how range, charging and infrastructure actually work in practice,” he said.
The deployment will be used to assess both the cross-border charging network and the economics of running an electric tractor in vehicle logistics, where payload, loading equipment and charger access all shape the daily schedule.
The eActros 600 has been in series production since late 2024 and is in daily operation in more than 15 European countries, according to Daimler Truck. The long-haul version uses lithium iron phosphate cells across three battery packs.
Mercedes-Benz Trucks lists the truck at 621kWh of installed battery capacity, with a range of around 500km without intermediate charging under defined conditions, and a 20% to 80% charge in roughly 30 minutes at a megawatt charging station. The deployment described by Daimler uses depot charging in Denmark and public chargers in Germany, rather than megawatt charging.
