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Amazon goes Old World for new electric trucks

Over 200 Mercedes-Benz electric heavy goods vehicles to haul packages across UK and Germany

(Photo: Mercedes-Benz Trucks/Amazon)

Amazon has taken a significant step toward reducing its carbon footprint with the announcement of its largest-ever order of electric heavy goods vehicles (eHGVs). The company has committed to acquiring over 200 new eActros 600 vehicles from European truck maker Mercedes-Benz Trucks. They will be integrated into Amazon’s existing eHGV transportation network later this year. The purchase is a big win for Mercedes-Benz Trucks, as it represents the largest electric heavy goods truck contract to date.

The initiative is part of Amazon’s broader sustainability goals and part of the company’s Climate Pledge signed back in 2019. Amazon aims to achieve net-zero carbon emissions across its operations by 2040.

Amazon previously tested an eActros 600 prototype at one of its logistics centers in Germany. Of the 200-plus trucks, over 140 will be deployed in the U.K. and over 50 in Germany. That adds to the 38 Amazon eHGVs that have operated on European roads since 2024. 

The strategy for the trucks will be hauling along high-mileage routes in Amazon’s middle-mile network, going to and from Amazon fulfillment centers, sort centers and delivery stations. 


For the eHGV itself, a little nomenclature is required to understand how it differs from its longer cousin, the North American Class 8 tractor. For American readers, the first thing one notices about the eActros 600 is that it’s a cabover engine (COE),  less common on U.S. roads today due to trucking regulation changes in this country.

The golden age of COEs extended from the late 1950s through the early ’80s when the Surface Transportation Assistance Act of 1982 extended vehicle lengths and brought about the 80,000-pound maximum gross vehicle weight, also referred to as the gross combined weight (GCW). That is the total weight of a combination tractor and trailer, as well as the cargo, on the roadway. 

Europe kept the COE truck standard, but COE trucks are still in the U.S., just for smaller roles. The U.S. uses them mostly for medium-duty vocational needs like fire, rescue, urban delivery, lawn maintenance and waste vehicles.

Without stricter regulatory limits on lengths, U.S. OEMs shifted to longer tractors for long-haul applications. The maximum gross vehicle weight is important when evaluating battery electric trucks, as they’re currently heavier than their diesel counterparts due to the weight of the battery packs.


For Mercedes-Benz Trucks, the eActros 600 boasts a high-capacity battery of over 600 kilowatt-hours, hence the name. The in-house-developed drive axle enables the truck to achieve a range of 310 miles (500 kilometers) without immediate charging. 

The caveat to the 310-mile range was noted in the release as “determined internally under specific test conditions, after preconditioning with a 4×2 tractor unit with a 40 tons total towing weight at 20°C outside temperature in long-haul operation and may deviate from the values determined in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2017/2400.”

The eActros 600 weighs approximately 26,000 pounds or 11.7 metric tons and has a higher GCW of 88,000 pounds compared to the maximum GCW of a U.S. battery-electric Class 8 of 82,000 pounds. You get the extra 2,000 pounds on top of the 80,000 pounds on U.S. roads courtesy of the Department of Energy

In terms of haul weight, the eActros 600 can haul a standard 22-ton trailer or approximately 44,000 pounds, with Motortrend reporting an 800-volt electrical architecture that can produce an output of 536 horsepower with a peak output of 805 horsepower. 

Regarding the challenge of charging, Daimler Truck notes the eActros 600 will be able to travel more than 620 miles (1,000 kilometers) per day through intermediate charging during the legally prescribed driver breaks, even without megawatt charging. Additionally, around 60% of the long-distance routes are less than 310 miles away, providing charging infrastructure at depots and at loading and unloading areas. 

In the future, the eActros 600 will be retrofitted with a megawatt charging system (MCS) as it becomes available and standardized across all manufacturers. The MCS technology allows the batteries to go from a 20% to an 80% charge in around 30 minutes if the charting station has around a 1-megawatt output. 

The main challenge for electric truck adoption remains the cost compared to an internal combustion engine. In the case of Amazon, its switch was partially funded by the U.K. government, which included the company in a $76.5 million (62.7 million-pound) award aimed at increasing zero-emissions road freight. 

This award is on top of Amazon’s existing $366 million (300 million-pound) investment over five years to electrify and decarbonize its U.K. fleet, including electric vans, trucks, e-cargo bikes and even delivery walkers. For those wondering what a delivery walker is, imagine a hotel cart designed to carry packages, with a person helping deliver packages from a delivery truck around a certain radius.


Amazon has also invested in heavy-truck charging infrastructure through 360kW electric charging points which can charge the battery of 88,200-pound (40-metric-ton) trucks from 20% to 80% in just over an hour. The investment in infrastructure is much needed as lack of charging locations remains a key constraint in both Europe and the U.S. 

In the U.K., the sight of one of these new eHGVs may be a rarity. The Guardian reports that as of last summer, there were just 300 electric eHGVs in the over-500,000-strong lorry [truck] fleet, with only one public charging point. 

With this new order, expect those numbers to move in a positive direction.

Thomas Wasson

Based in Chattanooga TN, Thomas is an Enterprise Trucking Carrier Expert at FreightWaves with a focus on news commentary, analysis and trucking insights. Before that, he worked at a digital trucking startup aifleet, Arrive Logistics as an Account Executive, and 5 years at U.S. Xpress Enterprises Inc. with an emphasis on fleet management, load planning, freight analysis, and truckload network design. He graduated from the University of Tennessee Chattanooga with a MBA in 2020 and a Bachelors of Political Science from the University of Tennessee Knoxville in 2013.