DAF is expanding its manufacturing facilities with the construction of a new Electric Truck Assembly facility in Eindhoven, where production of the New Generation DAF XD and XF Electric will begin this spring. DAF’s completely electric trucks have a range of over 500 ‘emission-free’ kilometres, representing a crucial step forward in the company’s quest of even greener road transport.
The new Electric Truck Assembly is located at the DAF Trucks headquarters in Eindhoven. This factory for electric trucks was built in under eighteen months.
DAF anticipates manufacturing to increase to several thousand vehicles per year in the coming years, in response to rising demand for completely electric trucks.
Each new generation electric DAF truck is built on a glider, which is a chassis without a driveline but with a cab. The glider is built on DAF’s main truck assembly line. On the Electric Truck Assembly assembly line, the 4x2 and 6x2 rigids and 4x2 tractors are subsequently converted to XD and XF Electric trucks in an eight-step procedure.
There are two assembly lines at the new plant. All high-voltage components, including batteries and driveline, are placed on the chassis on the main assembly line, while the battery packs are built on the sub-assembly line. At the last stations, thorough tests are performed to guarantee that the vehicle is in great working order.
The XD and XF Electric, like all DAF vehicles, are custom-built to meet the needs of each unique customer. This is why PACCAR’s electric drivelines are modular. Aside from the availability of two PACCAR EX engines (with six different performance ratings), the battery packs may also be positioned in various places on the chassis, depending on the needs of the client. Bodybuilders will benefit from maximal flexibility as a result of this.
