MAN Truck & Bus
7 May 2025
The transport company Elflein has been a partner of the BMW Group for inter-plant transport for many years. On the journey from Regensburg to Leipzig, the MAN eTGX proved that e-trucks have long been suitable for everyday use.
The anticipation is written all over Rüdiger Elflein's face. ‘Today, we're proving that with the MAN eTGX, we can cover a legendary route from BMW Regensburg to Leipzig electrically,’ says the Managing Partner of Elflein Holding GmbH and climbs into the cockpit of the green electric lion. ‘Electrify Now’ is written on the orange-coloured tarpaulin of the trailer - as well as on the T-shirt of the transport company, which already has eleven e-trucks in its fleet.
Elflein works as a logistics partner for the BMW Group, among others, and travels the Regensburg-Leipzig route 25 times a day in each direction - so far with conventional trucks powered by either fossil diesel or bio-LNG. This is set to change in future, as Elflein is focussing on sustainable mobility. ‘Our goal is clear: we want to continuously increase the proportion of zero-emission vehicles,’ says the Managing Director. ‘Sustainability is not a trend for us, but part of our corporate culture.’
Convinced: For Rüdiger Elflein, the future of logistics is electric.
Sustainable: eTrucks could save up to 3,000 tonnes of CO2 on the route.
The result after 357 kilometres of driving from Bavaria to Saxony was all the more pleasing: the MAN eTGX consumed only 75 kWh per 100 kilometres and still had a remaining charge of 39 percent on arrival in Leipzig, which would have been enough for another 210 kilometres. ‘Relaxed journey, good comfort, good range,’ says Elflein happily on arrival at the BMW plant gate. ‘Everything went well.’ After the unloading stop, the eTGX and the crew in the cockpit make a detour to the nearby Elflein site before heading back to Regensburg on the motorway with zero local emissions.
If Elflein were to drive the 50 daily journeys in each direction between the two BMW sites exclusively with eTrucks, up to 3,000 tonnes of CO2 could be saved each year (251 kilograms per route). The MAN eTGX has just proven that it is capable of doing this – and even the lack of charging points in many places is not a problem here: charging infrastructure for eTrucks is already in place, including on the site of the Elflein logistics centre in Leipzig and in future at other Elflein sites along the route.
Relaxed on the road: The transport company was behind the wheel for the premiere drive.
Electrify Now: Thanks to modern battery technology, range anxiety is now unfounded.
‘The range drive impressively demonstrated the performance that modern electric trucks already offer today and that range anxiety is unfounded,’ summarises Elflein. 'In the logistics industry, routes have to be planned meticulously and in detail - integrating a charging stop here is no problem. Our aim is to continuously expand the electrification of our fleet and provide our customers with sustainable transport solutions at the highest level'.
Elflein's customer BMW is also focussing on greater sustainability. 'Our corporate strategy of technological openness is also reflected in BMW Group transport logistics. For this reason, we are consistently driving forward pioneering logistics projects and have established the BMW Group Strategy for Reduced Logistics Emissions for this purpose', reports Michael Nikolaides, Head of Production Network and Logistics BMW Group. 'Among the alternative drive systems, the e-truck shows great potential for reducing emissions in the near future. We very much welcome the fact that low-liner e-trucks are now being produced in series, as they are absolutely essential for automotive logistics'.
Nikolaides is impressed by the results of the first all-electric journey between Regensburg and Leipzig: ‘The current e-truck pilot in BMW plant traffic between our sites has shown that a route of more than 700 kilometres round trip is already possible without any problems.’ Dennis Affeld, Managing Director of MAN Truck & Bus Germany, adds: 'Once again, the MAN eTGX in use with Elflein proves its absolute suitability for practical and long-distance transport. In BMW's production logistics, the ultra-low liner variant was also able to demonstrate its unique selling point on the market for all-electric transport up to an interior height of three metres. This proves once again that the switch to zero-emission vehicles is already straightforward today'.
Transport company Elflein can only agree: ‘We are convinced that the future of logistics is electric - and we are actively helping to shape it.’
Future: eTrucks will soon be a natural part of the logistics landscape.
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