An electric truck is about to attempt a lap of the planet, and the most interesting decision behind the project was made before a single component went on the frame. Electric Trucker, a channel that says it has spent roughly two years driving heavy electric trucks in long haul, short haul and extreme conditions, considered running an old high mileage electric truck to prove the technology can survive abuse. He went the other way instead. The rejected idea was a truck around five years old with 500,000 km behind it. The truck heading around the world is a Mercedes-Benz eActros 600 configured close to the way a haulage firm would order one, carrying 621 kWh of LFP battery across three packs. His reasoning was that the videos will outlive the trip, and an outdated truck would sell an outdated picture of what electric freight can already do.
Choosing a production truck rather than a purpose built expedition rig changes what the trip can prove. A one off with all wheel drive and lifted leaf springs would cross harder ground, but nobody watching could go and order it. Electric Trucker says the truck is a 4x2 with only the rear axle driven, riding on factory air suspension, and that the electric version can no longer be specified with steel leaf springs the way traditional expedition trucks are. He also says the manufacturer had to be willing to back the project, because roadside assistance in the middle of a continent is not something a solo driver can arrange after the fact, which ruled out brands without a global network. What the video leaves alone is the harder half of the problem. Charging a 621 kWh pack is a different task from charging a car, and heavy vehicle charging outside Europe, China and North America is still thin on the ground. Most public sites are laid out around cars, so cable reach, bay length and site access end up mattering as much as headline power.
The video follows the truck through final assembly and picks out the choices made for range. Electric Trucker says the three high voltage packs each weigh around 1.5 tonnes and carry a gross capacity of 207 kWh, and that they are installed at a dedicated stationary bay rather than on the main line because current order volumes do not yet justify full integration. The wheelbase was set at 4 metres so all three packs fit. He says they took the smallest cab available purely for aerodynamics, since almost nothing about the trip happens in the cab itself, and that the sun visor was argued over before being fitted anyway on the understanding it might not survive the year. A 1.5 metre frame overhang sits behind the cab, left long on purpose for the living module that gets built on later, which is also why the factory wind deflectors and roof spoiler come straight back off. Charging ports are fitted on both sides. Inside there is one bunk, chosen because he plans to sleep in the living module rather than the cab, alongside a full size passenger seat added on the assumption that guests will ride along. He also lists seat ventilation, matrix LED headlights, mirror cams, active drive assist and a roof hatch that opens fully. A trailer hitch went on as well, on the grounds that it is easier to carry one than to need one later. The truck left the factory painted white and heads next to a series of custom builders, with both cab and body due to be wrapped, and Electric Trucker says the plan is to test, present, modify and depart inside the same year.
Bottom line: the stock specification is the entire argument, and it is a good one. A modified one off would have been an easier drive and a far weaker story, because the whole point is that a viewer can order the same truck on Monday. The catch worth keeping in mind is that a factory backed vehicle with a global service network behind it is not really testing the thing most operators fear, which is a fault with nobody on speed dial. Watch what gets said about charging stops rather than range. If this trip stalls anywhere, it stalls at a plug.
Commentary on a third-party video. Figures and claims are as presented in the source and have not been independently verified. Spotted an error? Tell us and we will correct it.