MAN Delivers Porsche’s First Electric Logistics Truck

Greg Hyde

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16th January 2019

Porsche’s main factory in Stuttgart is to receive its first electric logistics truck from MAN.

The automaker claimed the move represents a significant step in its efforts to electrify all of its logistical operations. It said it would be used alongside its existing fleet and would complement its development of its first fully electric car. The tractor-trailer combination is a MAN eTGM 18.360 4×2 LL powered by lithium-ion batteries claiming storage of 149 kWh and range of 130 kilometers.

Porsche board member Albrecht Reimold claimed use of the eTGM would help the Stuttgart plant become a zero-emissions factory, despite evidence of lithium-ion batteries’ counter-productive effects on emissions levels.

A statement from parent company Volkswagen claimed Porsche wants “to leave behind the smallest possible carbon footprint along [its] entire value chain” but it would have to meet several targets to do this. It added MAN would trial customer testing of a limited run of eTGMs later this year, with MAN head of vehicle development Manuel Marx saying: “The knowledge we gain together with Porsche from regular plant logistics will flow into other vehicles that will be used for customer tests in 2019”.

Porsche will use the eTGM for journeys between its Stuttgart plant and a logistical partner’s site in Freiberg Am Neckar, a journey of 18km. A rapid charging station in Freiberg will be used for recharging but Volkswagen’s statement did not specify whether the eTGM or the station has any tech in place to reduce or prevent the battery corrosion that can be caused by too much rapid charging.