Mitsubishi Fuso Truck and Bus Corporation will deliver 20 units of the all-electric eCanter truck to the Australia Post fleet. In October, Australia Post will become the first local customer to integrate the electric light-duty truck into its daily operations.

Australia Post is a government business enterprise providing postal services in Australia. The organization has the largest electric fleet in the country, with more than 3,000 electric delivery vehicles.

The eCanter trucks will run in major cities across Australia to support parcel deliveries. Australia Post’s StarTrack subsidiary, which provides express logistics solutions for enterprises, will also be operating the eCanter. The trucks will be supported by the FUSO retail network and the e-mobility experts of Daimler Truck and Bus Australia, which oversees the import and distribution of FUSO, Mercedes-Benz, and Freightliner brand commercial vehicles.

The eCanter for Australia is shipped from Tramagal, Portugal, and comes with the same standard specifications as the models currently available in Japan and Europe. In order to support safe driving in city environments, the vehicle is installed with safety features such as the Advanced Emergency Braking System, the Lane Departure Warning System, as well as the Electronic Stability Program. The vehicle was also tested through a six-month local trial, during which it was operated with a maximum load.

The eCanter is the series-produced all-electric truck developed by MFTBC as a solution to urban environmental issues such as noise, exhaust gas and CO2 emissions. The eCanter, which falls under the 7.5-ton gross vehicle weight class, ensures a range of about 100 kilometers per charge. The electric drive system carries a motor (maximum output: 135 kW; maximum torque: 390 N·m) and six high-voltage (370 V, 13.5 kWh) lithium-ion battery packs. With quick-charging stations, the vehicle only takes up to approximately 1.5 hours to fully recharge.

Based in Kawasaki, Japan, Mitsubishi Fuso Truck and Bus Corporation (MFTBC) is one of Asia’s leading commercial vehicle manufacturers, with 89.29% of its shares owned by Daimler Truck AG and 10.71% by various Mitsubishi group companies.

MFTBC manufactures a range of commercial vehicles including light-, medium-, and heavy-duty trucks and buses, and industrial engines for more than 170 markets worldwide. In 2017, MFTBC introduced the eCanter, the first all-electric light-duty truck in series production in Japan. In 2019, the Super Great—Japan’s first heavy-duty truck fitted with Level 2 Automated Driving Support Technology—followed as a benchmark in the Japanese commercial vehicle market.

MFTBC operates under the umbrella of Daimler Trucks Asia, together with its partner organization Daimler India Commercial Vehicles (DICV) in India.