A new truck in the fleet – powered by the sun

At the beginning of May, the long-established cardboard packaging manufacturer Friedrich Wenner Versmolder Vollpappen-Verarbeitungswerk GmbH took on one of the first completely electric MAN eTGMs for its fleet. In the near future, the 264-kW (360-hp), 26-tonne vehicle with box body will transport intermediate and finished products from the cardboard manufacturing facility, quietly and without emissions.

Keeping the environment in mind across the board, Friedrich Wenner GmbH produces all the electricity that its truck requires from its own solar power system. When the vehicle was handed over, MAN trained six drivers who will regularly be behind the wheel of the new electric vehicle. One of them is Harald Napiwotzki. The 60-year-old has 20 years’ experience as a professional truck driver, completing long-haul journeys both domestically and internationally. As a member of the Wenner fleet, he has been driving a conventional MAN TGS articulated combination with side curtains for eight years. In this role, he transports both unprocessed card to the production facility, and finished containers to customers in the food industry. The “shuttle” between the production hall and the warehouse is also one that Harald drives regularly. After driving his first few kilometres in the electric truck, he gives us his impressions.

“And then driving it is fascinating! You can’t hear the drive system, but the movement, the thrust, that’s all there!”

Harald, how was your first run out in the electric truck?

Harald: First of all, I’m surprised at how different it is when it starts up. The interior and the operating concept are the same as in a normal diesel truck. But the start-up: you don’t hear anything, but then you notice that the unit is starting up and the check lamps show you how much energy is available. And then driving it is fascinating! You can’t hear the drive system, but the movement, the thrust, that’s all there! And with the electric truck, you can move off with great precision. When you’re reversing, too, you don’t need the manoeuvring feature any more. And it drives a lot more fluidly. When I get to a roundabout in the normal diesel truck and have to stop, it needs a moment to move off again. But the electric truck is much more fluid – and that’s a great thing.

And how is the truck being put to use at Wenner?

Harald: We mostly use the truck for the internal shuttle between the production hall and the warehouse. But we are planning to put it to use to deliver to some of the nearby customers, too. There are a lot of meat-processing plants here in Versmold. They contact us and say: “We need four more pallets of cardboard packaging as soon as possible, can you deliver them to us?” For a job like that, the electric truck is perfect.

Do you think you can get the job done, with the range being what it is?

Harald: I have read opinions where people say: “Electric, what’s the point? Only 200 km? What about when you get to 300?” And so on. But that’s not what they’re ever used for, they’re for short-distance transport – or they are at the moment, anyway. With the electric truck, we travel about 14 km each day on a double shift on the normal shuttle route. That’s not much, and it depends on what’s happening in terms of production. So on each shift, we effectively drive about seven km. How often do I have to charge it up? Probably once a week. And even when we go out to customers, the range should never really be a problem.

When you change to an electric vehicle, to begin with, even charging it is different to what you are used to, that is to say, driving to the petrol station. What do you expect?

Harald: With the diesel truck, until now, I always used to drive straight to the pump at the petrol station. Then I had to take the fuel card out, connect, take off the tank cap, and once everything was activated, I could start refuelling. Then it would take a while to refuel up to 300, 400 litres. Since we have the new charging point for the electric truck directly on site, it’s no more difficult in terms of the steps involved. I drive in, attach the charging cable, and the vehicle charges. When the batteries are empty, it only takes about an hour to get them fully charged again using the 150-kW fast chargers. Our charging point is designed for 50-kW DC charging. That means that it takes about three hours to fully charge the vehicle. The way we use them, that’s not a problem. It even works well after the second shift, especially as we don’t have to charge them up to full every day. And with the solar panels on the roofs of our facilities, the truck can run on 100% green solar power.

For you, what are the clear benefits of the electric truck?

Harald: The truck is very quiet. That’s particularly useful when using it at night, when working with a diesel truck would cause problems because of the noise. So, for example, near residential areas, or where night-time driving bans are in place. That means you can plan the routes differently. And it also doesn’t produce exhaust gas. We sometimes drive right into the halls to load the goods, and to do that, a diesel truck would, of course, have to drive in with the engine running. We have a ceiling-mounted ventilation system in place for this, but with the electric truck, it’s a huge difference, even in terms of things like the noise in the hall. Of course, the biggest advantage is for the environment – especially when it is charged using solar power, as it is here.

What do you think it will be like when you are on the road in the electric truck? How will people react?

Harald: When I drove through the town recently and looked at the people on the streets, you could tell that they thought something was missing. They saw the truck, but the background noise wasn’t there. You can see the question in their faces. We all need to get used to it first. And the customers will certainly be intrigued when it turns up at their sites. It makes you very proud. Especially when you’re the first! It’s also great that the boss trusts us and says we can drive them.