Wood meets electricity

The wholesaler of wooden building materials is currently driving forward the transition to e-mobility. At the end of the year, 12 MAN eTGX vehicles will be delivered to the company. 24 drivers are to gain experience in everyday transport. It is the start of an exciting new era with electric drives.

Lots of wood: 154 trucks are in use every day to deliver doors, cowls, panels and many other wooden materials and components to the customers of the Behrens Gruppe. The wholesaler maintains a presence in Germany with 13 sales locations, 3 central warehouses and a total of 900 employees in 8 federal states. They don’t work with haulage companies, but provide all transportation with their own drivers and vehicles. At the end of the year, twelve MAN eTGX vehicles will be added to the fleet. The Behrens Gruppe sees itself as a pioneer in the transition to climate-friendly drive systems.

Andreas Jedamzik plays a significant role in this. The 58-year-old has been working for the Behrens Gruppe for 31 years. He manages the fleet and also drives many processes in the company towards sustainability and efficiency. Andreas Jedamzik is looking forward to the delivery of MAN’s eTrucks at the end of 2024. In this case they are all the MAN eTGX 27.450, which is to be equipped with BDF interchangeable frames and chassis for electric tow trucks.

Driver anticipation

24 drivers trained in e-mobility are to test the electric trucks in practice, i.e there will be two people per eTruck who can use the vehicle alternately. The fleet manager relies on drivers who are particularly interested in and curious about the new technology. “Many of our drivers are looking forward to gaining experience with the electric drive. Others have reservations about e-mobility and would prefer to stay with their usual diesel truck,” says Andreas Jedamzik frankly. However, he is sure that sooner or later the entire team of drivers will be convinced by the advantages of the eTrucks as a result of their own hands-on experiences. “When we introduced electric forklift trucks, there were initial concerns. But now nobody really wants to use a forklift truck with a combustion engine anymore.” Adam Jedamzik does not expect any greater difficulties during the day-to-day work of the drivers in the cab than in conventional trucks. “Not much changes when it comes to driving style. Momentum generated by the eTruck is just another.”

“Many of our drivers are looking forward to the eTruck.”

Andreas Jedamzik
Fleet Manager of the Behrens Gruppe 

The fleet manager has drawn up a precise plan for the use of the twelve electric trucks: Four will be used in Rotenburg (Wümme) in Lower Saxony, Großenhain in Saxony and Werder (Havel) in Brandenburg. From these locations, they’ll drive routes within a radius of 150 kilometres, supplying the area between Bremen and Hamburg, as well as Dresden and Berlin and the surrounding region. Up to 18 customers will be served per trip. The total distance of 250 to 300 kilometres is likely to be handled on a single battery charge with no problem, since MAN’s eTrucks have a daily range of 600 to 800 kilometres. For five years, Andreas Jedamzik will closely observe how well the electric trucks cope with the different conditions in the city, countryside and mountains in the three delivery areas. “We have made a concious decision to buy not just one or two electric vehicles, but twelve in order to gain truly meaningful and extensive experience with e-mobility in everyday transport,” explains the fleet manager.

Charging with green electricity  

He is currently working on setting up a digitally networked charging infrastructure at the three test sites of the Behrens Gruppe. The trucks are to be supplied exclusively with green electricity. The is either produced with our own solar systems or purchased. One crucial step in preparing for the use of the new electric trucks is training the drivers. This concerns, for example, using an energy-efficient driving style with the electric truck, handling the charging station and battery, plus safety requirements for high-voltage technology. The training courses will take place as soon as all the technical details of the vehicles and charging solutions have been finalised. “We will start with this approximately three months before delivery of the trucks,” Andreas Jedamzik states.