Visual powertrain bundled competence

Truck Technology Group:

our engineering powerhouse

Daimler Truck brings all major technology and powertrain activities toether in the company's own Truck Technology Group. It is the global competence center for research, development, and production for all drive technologies (combustion engines, battery-electric and hydrogen-based fuel-cell drives), it is also responsible for vehicle software and electrics/electronics as well as global purchasing.

This setup helps us in two ways: on the one hand, we can leverage global synergies, and on the other, we can scale technologies economically across vehicles and markets.

This applies to the powertrain, for example. The conventional powertrain accounts for the lion’s share of a truck's value added - around 50 percent. It is therefore important to develop it economically. Our approach are intelligent platforms. With the ePowertrain, we also focus on a global platform architecture in the field of electric trucks and buses.

Product highlights

  • Heavy-Duty Engine Platform (HDEP)

    The heavy-duty engine generation covers the heavy-duty segment from 10.7 to 15.6 l and from 240 to 460 kW (Off-Highway to 480 kW). This generation of engines is used worldwide in heavy-duty trucks from Mercedes-Benz, Freightliner, Western Star, and FUSO, in touring coaches from Setra and Mercedes-Benz, and in off-highway products. The cleanest and most reliable engine platform in its segment fulfills the tough emissions standards in force in Europe, North America, and Japan, and shows that it is possible to achieve high fuel efficiency with modern combustion engines through systematic further development.

  • Medium-Duty Engine Generation (MDEG)

    Daimler Truck offers with the Medium-Duty Engine Generation an engine series for light and medium-duty trucks, urban and inter-city buses, and off-highway applications. The engines of the OM 93x series (four or six cylinders and either 5.1 l or 7.7 l of displacement) cover the performance range from 115 to 280 kW and set benchmarks in their class, thanks to their good cost-effectiveness and state-of-the-art technology. As a result of the global rollout, the DD5 medium-duty engine and the DD8 are available in the U.S. market. Both engines fulfill the NAFTA greenhouse gas emissions standard (GHG17) and are produced locally in Detroit.

    Daimler Truck AG and U.S.-based engine manufacturer Cummins Inc. announced early 2021 that they would enter into a global strategic partnership for medium-duty engines. As of the second half of the decade, Cummins will produce medium-duty engines with the EURO VII emissions standard for Daimler Truck AG vehicles. As part of a strategic partnership, Cummins will invest in further developing the medium duty engine platform and its global production.

  • Classic engine series

    Truck Technology Group also offers customers a range of high-quality medium-duty and heavy-duty engines outside the triad markets. Customers in countries such as Brazil and India benefit from the outstanding combination of robustness, low procurement costs, and high fuel efficiency provided by the four and six-cylinder 900 series engines and the six-cylinder 457 and 460 series.

  • Integrated powertrain

    The integrated powertrain stands for engine systems, transmissions and axles designed for efficiency right from the start, perfectly coordinated in the test phase and produced in our own powertrain plants according to the highest quality standards. In Europe, for example, Mercedes-Benz Trucks offers an optimally coordinated powertrain in the medium and heavy segment, which stands for the highest fuel efficiency and maximum economy. Daimler Trucks North America (DTNA) also offers a fully integrated powertrain in the heavy segment with the DD15 and DD13 engines, the DT12 transmission and the Detroit axles. The New Final Drive axle completes the second generation of the integrated powertrain from the Daimler Truck AG and gives us an innovative edge in axle technology through its outstanding overall efficiency. In the Actros, adjustments to the OM 470 engine and drive line reduce fuel consumption by up to five percent in comparison to the first generation.

  • Third-party business

    Truck Technology Group also offers engines, transmissions and axles to external customers as either individual components or complete powertrain solutions. In addition to products that are optimally adapted to customer and market-specific requirements, customers from the on-highway and off-highway segments benefit from our global aftersales network. Since May 2018, transmissions of the Heavy Duty Engine Platform (HDEP) and Medium Duty Engine Platform (MDEG) fulfill Stage V EU regulation.

  • ePowertrain
    X-ray view of Mercedes-Benz Truck powertrain
    X-ray view of Mercedes-Benz Truck powertrain

    Daimler Truck AG pursues a dual strategy for CO2-neutral driving with either batteries or hydrogen-based fuel cells. A global platform architecture is used for both drive technologies: the ePowertrain. This allows for important economies of scale to be realized, because regardless of whether battery or hydrogen, the essential components of the architecture for the ePowertrain remain the same.

    The technological heart of the ePowertrain is the drive unit. That’s basically an eCarrier concept based on an e-axle with integrated e-motors including transmission. Two highly efficient integrated e-motors lead to a steady performance with a high torque.

    The compact design results in a larger installation space for the battery and therefore allows for a higher range. The recuperation potential increases due to the combination of a large battery with very powerful e-motors. The low center of gravity also improves driving dynamics and cornering.

    The first version of the ePowertrain is used in the series version of the battery-electric Mercedes-Benz eActros as of October 2021. In addition, U.S. versions of the ePowertrain will be installed in the Freightliner eCascadia and eM2 vehicles in the North American market. The fuel cell concept truck Mercedes-Benz GenH2 Truck is also based on the ePowertrain platform.