MAN Truck & Bus
3 Apr 2025
From bitterly cold Lapland to the Allianz Arena in Munich: a battery-electric MAN eTGX has successfully completed this 3,400-kilometre trip, proving that a journey of this kind is already possible today with the public charging infrastructure that is currently in place.
Most lions prefer warmer climes. But not MAN electric lions. They can handle any weather – even the snow and ice at the Arctic Circle in northern Sweden, where they started an unusual trip through Europe on 20th March. A MAN eTGX took on the challenge of travelling 3,400 kilometres from the far north to the Allianz Arena in Munich. The aim was for the “polar express” to show not only how well it can handle the harsh conditions in Sweden but also whether this kind of journey was possible using the existing charging infrastructure.
Ice-cold start in the Arctic Circle: Influencer André Brockschmidt (left) and Thorsten Helbig from MAN ProfiDrive sat in the cockpit during the first stages.
Lion in northern Sweden: The eTGX endured the extreme climate without grumbling - and even here it travelled a good 400 kilometres.
The eTGX was to complete the trip in seven legs: from the Arctic Circle along the east coast of Sweden to Stockholm, from there through the country’s interior to Malmö in the south, then on to Copenhagen and through Denmark to Hamburg, then via Schweinfurt and through the length of Germany in one go to the finish point in Munich. It was also planned that it would make a longer stop at the MAN site in Copenhagen to visit the service and sales team there. Alongside MAN ProfiDrive trainers, the influencers André Brockschmidt (Bauforum24) and Christina Scheib (Trucker Babes), who are well-known in the truck scene, also tagged along on some legs of the trip.
After seven days of travelling, it was clear that the electric lion was able to tolerate the cold climate without a grumble and was easily able to top up its batteries with new energy at any time – making extremely economical use of them as well. Despite the sometimes profoundly wintry conditions with snow and ice, which required special grip tyres and therefore increased rolling resistance, the 32-tonne heavy-weight completed the route with an average consumption of 117 kWh per 100 kilometres. On the legs in Denmark and Germany, where temperatures were slightly warmer, consumption even fell to around 105 kWh. The range before recharging therefore varied between 400 and 500 kilometres. Even at the Arctic Circle, it was always possible to safely reach the next charging station.
Overall, the MAN eTGX consumed 4,500 kilowatt hours of energy, generating 670 kWh of this itself through energy recovery while braking and travelling downhill. All things considered, only 3,830 kWh had to be supplied to the truck through charging. Needless to say, the polar express predominantly used charging stations operated with 100 per cent renewable energies. So, on its journey from the Arctic Circle to the Allianz Arena, it was able to save up to 2.7 tonnes of CO2 in comparison with a comparable diesel articulated lorry with an assumed average consumption of 27 litres per 100 kilometres. The MAN Charge&Go card was used for charging and could be used to activate all charging stations, regardless of the provider.
The influencers who also travelled on the truck were impressed not only by its performance even in cold conditions, but also by how easy it was to charge the truck with MAN Charge&Go. “The question is, what about recharging in Europe? Is it a challenge, is it a problem?” asked André Brockschmidt, who was sitting in the cockpit during the first legs of the trip in the far north. “And the answer is: No! It’s all done in a flash with the charging card. Simply activate the charging pillar, plug in, wait a bit, and then you can carry on with your journey!”
Christina Scheib joined the trip between Stockholm and Hamburg and was particularly surprised by the silence of the electric drive: “You can't hear the engine at all. It’s so quiet that you can’t even tell if it’s running or not. I am so surprised at how easy it was to drive and charge the eTruck.”
MAN too was unreservedly impressed by the unusual trip through Europe. “The aim of the MAN Polar Express was to show that it is already possible to complete the trip from the Arctic Circle to Munich fully electrically with the new MAN eTruck and the existing public charging infrastructure,” said Friedrich Baumann, Executive Board Member for Sales & Customer Solutions at MAN Truck & Bus. “Now we can say ‘Mission accomplished!’. The vehicle technology and countless helpful solutions, such as MAN Charge&Go, are ready and waiting to make it easier for our customers to make the switch from diesel to electric trucks.” Yet there is still a lot to be done in Europe. To turn the electrification of long-haul trucking into a reality, big investments in the further expansion of the high-performance charging infrastructure are required.
Football while travelling: The round leather in the colours of FC Bayern was presented to football legend Giovane Élber and members of the FC Bayern Munich fan club upon arrival in Munich.
Welcome home: Giovane Élber received the eTGX and MAN ProfiDrive expert Thomas Walch at the Allianz Arena.
In Munich, MAN and FC Bayern Munich are showing what this looks like in practice. On the southern bus car park of the Allianz Arena, a total of 30 high-performance and megawatt charging stations for buses and trucks are to be created in three planned expansion stages. This will enable up to 500 vehicles to be charged each day. The location is ideal, because the stadium is situated right beside the busy Munich North motorway junction and has its own motorway entry/exit. Up to 10,000 trucks a day pass through this transport hub, which is important for all European road haulage traffic. That’s why the Allianz Arena was the perfect place to celebrate the end of the Polar Express’ trip. FC Bayern Munich legend Giovane Élber greeted the team, saying “Welcome home. What a trip! It’s unbelievable what MAN’s fully electric trucks can do.”
Text: Christian Buck
Photos: MAN
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