Keeping things moving with the MAN eTGM

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The Spaten-Löwenbräu Group has also joined the fully electric movement

Career trucker Toni Hartl delivers beer with gusto. Since recently, he’s been doing so almost silently and without leaving any emissions in his wake at the wheel of the MAN eTGM – the first fully electric truck to be added to the fleet by his employers at the Spaten-Löwenbräu Group.

In the future, their popular beers are set to be transported more and more frequently by zero-emissions vehicles. The brewery group, which has belonged to Anheuser-Busch InBev since 2004, has taken on a 26-tonne MAN eTGM as a first step in this new, eco-friendly direction. With 35 years of experience in keeping the bars and beer gardens stocked, Toni Hartl was selected to drive the new e-truck.

“It’s almost like I’m one of the family when I visit most customers on my weekly rounds,” he says, laughing. There’s usually enough time to take a break for a quick coffee, something to nibble, and a chat. “That’s what I love most about my job – the close relationship with customers,” he reveals.

This is also the reason why he wouldn’t be tempted to return to his original career. Back in 1979, he completed his vocational training as a brewer, yet he felt that something crucial was missing while working in the cellars: contact with other people. For that reason, he tried bringing his beer to customers’ establishments instead of working on the production side of things. One thing led to another, and this trial transportation phase turned into 35 years.

The new model is a hit

Toni has driven a MAN truck for the majority of his driving career, and his rounds in the Bavarian districts of Dachau, Schleißheim, and Garching have remained largely unchanged. Most of this time was spent powered by diesel. He first made the switch to a battery–electric vehicle just a few weeks ago.

“The MAN eTGM drives beautifully, there’s no manual transmission, so all you have to do is press your foot down on the pedal and you’re off.”

It wasn’t a surprise for him that the 26-tonne truck moves off while barely making a sound, as he’d already gained some experience with an electric wheel loader on his brother’s farm. However, customers or beer garden patrons are rather more astonished to see such a big truck arriving or departing with little more than a whisper.

An electric motor rated at 264 kW (360 hp) is to thank for driving this fully electric distribution vehicle in near-silence. Auxiliary units such as the power steering, air compressors, and air-conditioning system are operated electrically and controlled as required by the energy management system, making them energy-saving. Before Toni could set off for his first electrically powered delivery run, he was given an in-depth induction and safety training for the high-voltage truck. And his new MAN’s measurements did take some getting used to. It’s a good 12.5 cm taller than the one he drove previously, so it takes a little more oomph to unload beer crates and kegs from the side. Thankfully, Toni is keen on staying fit: he spends a lot of his free time outdoors and regularly takes part in endurance hikes, covering 100 kilometres in just 24 hours. Yet he also deserves recognition for the distance he’s racked up at work: he’s covered 60,000 kilometres in 33 years – not behind the wheel of his truck, but rather on foot while unloading and delivering his precious cargo. Toni is always on the move – and he’ll be powered exclusively by electricity from now on with the new MAN eTGM.