Collective efforts by express and package service provider DPD Switzerland, e-truck brand Futuricum and tyre manufacturer Continental have landed them in the Guinness Book of World Records. The new record is for the longest distance covered by an electric truck in one full charge at a whopping 1,099 km. The truck used for the record had been in use by DPD for about six months in regional traffic.
“For DPD Switzerland, we have converted a Volvo FH to an electric drive. The 19-ton truck now has over 680bhp and, with a capacity of 680kWh, the largest truck battery in Europe on board,” explained Adrian Melliger, CEO of Designwerk Products, the company behind the Futuricum brand.
The truck was run around a 2.8-km high-speed oval track at the Contidrom, Continental’s in-house test centre near Hannover. Two drivers completed 392 laps of the track in shifts of 4.5 hours each clocking an average speed of 50 km/h which is a realistic speed during everyday driving. The distance was covered in a total of 23 hours.
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“We decided to invest in electric mobility at an early stage. The Futuricum truck has been traveling between the depot in Möhlin near Basel to the distribution center in Buchs/Zurich for about six months now,” said Marc Frank, strategy and innovation director at DPD Switzerland. “The e-truck can master the roughly 300 km every day without any problems. We are proud that we have now been able to officially document our performance level.”
