A fully-electric truck weighing 40 tonnes is now being used for deliveries by car manufacturer BMW in Munich – a first for European roads.
The vehicle, designed and built by Dutch truck manufacturer Terberg, will be charged using 100 per cent renewable energy and will initially be used to transport automotive parts between BMW facilities in Munich. It takes three to four hours to charge completely and can then travel up to 100 kilometres – the equivalent distance of a full day’s work.

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The truck is a partnership between BMW and service provider Scherm and is the first of its kind to be used on public roads in Europe after successfully completing its first test drives. Electric buses and smaller trucks are becoming more common, but these tend to be of the 10-tonne weight category. The 40-tonne truck will initially transport vehicle components such as shock absorbers and spring between a BMW factory and Scherm’s logistics centre.

According to BMW, the truck is also environmentally friendly, generating no direct CO2 emissions and being quieter than conventional diesel vehicles. Compared to a diesel engine, the electric truck will save 11.8 tonnes of CO2 per year, the equivalent of emissions generated by a BMW 320d EfficientDynamics car going around the world almost three times.

Hermann Bohrer, head of the BMW Group Plant, said: “With our electric truck, we are sending another strong signal for sustainable urban mobility.

“We are contributing to reducing emissions in the city and are proud to be the first automotive manufacturer in Europe to use an electric truck of this size to transport materials on public roads.”

The move is welcome as the need for electric and other alternative freight vehicles is becoming increasingly acute. Trucks and busses account for a quarter of all CO2 emissions from road transport in the EU and six per cent of total EU emissions. Emissions from all vehicles in the EU are still 20.5 per cent higher than in 1990.

Bavaria’s Minister for Economic Affairs, Ilse Aigner, said: “BMW is making an important contribution to this and is showing that you can succeed on the global market with sustainable products made by innovative companies.”