Daimler Truck North America (DTNA) is looking to Norway’s Hexagon Purus to electrify its Freightliner eM2 medium-duty vocational trucks that follow Class 6 straight trucks now in production.
The long-term agreement incorporates Hexagon Purus’ proprietary zero-emission technology, including battery systems, auxiliary modules, power modules and vehicle-level software. It will also include power-take-off (PTO) options to supply power to the vocational body and the equipment.
DTNA unveiled the vocational Freightliner eM2 prototype truck with vocational upfit options in May. Working with truck equipment manufacturers Alamo and Altec, the market leader showed a utility bucket truck and announced plans for expanding zero-emission to the utility, sweeper, dump, construction, towing and refuse segments.
Long-standing relationship
DTNA decided to partner with Oslo, Norway-based Hexagon Purus based on a long-standing relationship and shared expertise. DTNA previously worked with Hexagon’s Agility division on natural gas fuel tank integration and the company’s first-generation electric vehicles.
Hexagon Purus’ high-voltage battery technology, known for its efficient kilowatt-hour per meter of frame length, aligns with medium-duty vocational packaging needs.
Utility truck drivers know their work as a lineman but do not think of themselves as truck drivers the way over-the-road drivers do, Brian Daniels, DTNA vice president of vocational national accounts, said at a media event in May in Anaheim, California.
“They know that bucket very well. They know what they’re repairing very well. Their key focus isn’t the operation of the vehicle,” he said.
Hexagon Purus provides electrification for light, medium and heavy-duty vehicles, buses, ground storage, distribution, refueling, maritime, rail and aerospace. It also makes high-pressure tanks for hydrogen.
“DTNA has been an important zero-emission technology development partner for Hexagon Purus in North America for several years through our participation in the Innovation Fleet program,” Morten Holum, CEO of Hexagon Purus, said in a news release.
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