On July 1, 2024, MAN Truck presented in Austria a preview of the commercial vehicles it will exhibit at the IAA in Hanover in September 2024. The comprehensive range spans from vans to road tractors and includes vehicles for quarry and construction sites. In addition to the traditional diesel propulsion, there were also fully electric vehicles (for which MAN reports receiving two thousand orders) and hydrogen-powered internal combustion engine vehicles (hTGX).
This event served as an opportunity to share with the press MAN Truck’s vision for the future of commercial vehicles, focusing particularly on traction technology up to 2030. This comes at a time when the trend for electric vehicles is unclear and new technologies, such as hydrogen internal combustion, are emerging. In general, the German manufacturer from the Traton Group (which also includes Scania) seems to reaffirm its confidence in electricity.
The commercial electric range, eTruck, already features numerous configurations thanks to a modular design and is prepared for the future megawatt charging standard (MCS), delivering up to 1,000 kW, allowing charging during the driver's break and enabling a daily range of up to 800 kilometers, sufficient for typical long-haul applications. Regarding future trends, Alexander Vlaskamp, CEO of MAN Truck & Bus, stated that “even though the transition to zero-emission freight transport is characterized by different propulsion technologies, our main focus is clearly on electromobility as the primary propulsion technology. The hydrogen combustion engine can be a useful complement for special applications, as well as the fuel cell system, which is currently still under development.”
According to Vlaskamp, diesel will continue to "play an important role throughout the entire transition until its complete replacement." The manufacturer has improved the D30 engine to reduce fuel consumption and thus CO2 emissions. Vlaskamp also anticipated that in the future, MAN will produce diesel and electric vehicles on the same line “to be able to react flexibly to the changing demand towards electric trucks.”
Regarding electric propulsion, the executive emphasized that “for the propulsion revolution to succeed, the expansion of the charging infrastructure must be an absolute priority for politicians, infrastructure operators, and manufacturers.” However, the manufacturer believes that by 2030, half of the new registrations of commercial vehicles in Europe will be electric trucks.
MAN Truck is also committed to charging facilities, having created the joint venture Milence with Daimler Truck and Volvo Trucks. The new company has already opened a large electric charging facility for trucks in the Port of Antwerp and plans to establish 1,700 charging points over the next few years. However, the company believes that by 2030, at least 30,000 points will be needed. To increase offerings to customers, MAN is creating charging points within its service network.
Parallel to the increase in electromobility, MAN is developing hydrogen technology as a complementary zero-emission solution for special applications such as heavy transport or situations where charging infrastructure is difficult to implement. In Austria, it presented the prototype of a hydrogen combustion truck, which will be delivered under the name MAN hTGX in a small series of two hundred units starting in 2025 to customers in Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Iceland, and selected non-European countries.
