An all-electric FUSO eCanter 9C18e skip loader has been added to the truck fleet at TIT Imhof AG in the Swiss canton of Thurgau. The 8.55-tonne light-duty truck is the first fully electric series-produced vehicle for the transport, construction and disposal company from Kreuzlingen, which has been deeply committed to electric mobility for several years.
The 37-year-old owner Dominic Imhof runs the company, which has currently around 150 employees and almost 70 vehicles, together with his sister and describes himself as an electric mobility enthusiast. TIT Imhof’s portfolio includes construction site logistics, special transportation, crane services, excavation and demolition, as well as disposal and recycling for commercial, industrial and private customers. This includes, among other things, the container service, which is where the FUSO eCanter comes into its own at TIT Imhof. The 9C18e, with a type AK4V skip loader from Meier-Ratio, transports empty containers to customers and disposes of the contents of the full containers at its own disposal center in Kreuzlingen. With its short 3.400 mm wheelbase, the eCanter is particularly compact and maneuverable for use in the city and surrounding communities. With the M-battery pack, it has a range of up to 140 kilometers on a single charge. “The eCanter perfectly meets our requirements and, above all, the payload of 3.3 tons is ideal for container transports,” confirms Dominic Imhof.
eWorks: FUSO eCanter proves itself in daily use
Driver Jozef Peciar, who has been with TIT Imhof for six years, also confirms the eCanter’s advantages in daily use. Whether it’s setting down the container backwards into narrow driveways with highest precision or manoeuvring across the road in the narrow, winding streets of the southern shore of Lake Constance – the eCanter masters its daily tasks with flying colours. The eCanter’s body can lift containers ranging from one to ten cubic meters in size and up to 4.5 metric tons in weight. “One of my favorites is the electric power take-off (ePTO) in the eCanter,” says Jozef Peciar. “I press the button and the drive starts immediately. That’s not always the case with diesel-powered trucks. It often takes a while for the pump to start up. Also, in the FUSO eCanter the switch is located on the left below the steering wheel and I can easily reach it, even when I’m standing next to the cab.”
The vehicle is charged overnight at a DC-charging unit in the yard of the site. If necessary, driver Jozef Peciar can recharge during his lunch break and benefits from the eCanter’s excellent charging behavior. Since he responds to the digital call-ups from the dispatcher on his tablet, he cannot plan with fixed routes. Sometimes he only has to travel five kilometers back and forth, sometimes the next job is 20 kilometers away. Nevertheless, the charge is always enough to get him through the morning.
And there is yet another advantage of the electric vehicles in his fleet that impresses owner Dominic Imhof: “To be honest, we didn’t even consider how quiet electric mobility would make our working environment in principle. It’s another effect that everyone now really appreciates.”
From biodiesel to electric trucks with their own charging infrastructure
TIT Imhof started using biodiesel and construction machines with hybrid drives early on. In 2019, Imhof integrated the first fully electric 26-tonne truck into its fleet, with more vehicles to follow, all of them custom-made in the Netherlands and Switzerland. When he heard about the FUSO eCanter as a series model, Dominic Imhof was immediately interested. At the end of 2024, he replaced the according diesel vehicle in his fleet with a fully electric Next Generation eCanter. But TIT Imhof doesn’t stop at the vehicles themselves: in addition, only electrically powered handling equipment is used at the disposal center in Kreuzlingen. All company cars are also electric. The whole system is supplied by the output of a 2.400-square-meter photovoltaic system on the roofs of its own buildings.
“The whole change only really makes sense if we use our own electricity. That’s why we were looking for a storage solution that could be easily integrated into the existing infrastructure,” says Dominic Imhof, recalling the development. This is how the patented “eCube” came about. It is a swap body container that houses a large battery storage unit and a 360-kilowatt fast charger with two connections. Imhof also offers this idea to other companies as a mobile entry-level solution. This includes a needs analysis, planning, installation and its own control software from its new subsidiary eSpectrum AG. The company is also working with associations and professional groups to continuously expand the charging infrastructure. A network of transport companies is already supporting each other in this regard and opening its charging stations to e-trucks from competitors.
Electric trucks are exempt from the heavy vehicle charge (HVC) in Switzerland until 2030. This amounts to around one Swiss franc (about 1.05 euros) per kilometer for a 40-tonne truck. In addition, as of this year, CO2 taxation has been introduced on vehicle imports into Switzerland, affecting not only cars but also light-duty trucks. The TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) of the locally emission-free FUSO eCanter is therefore highly attractive despite higher purchase costs.
SOURCE: Daimler Truck
