U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) got a look at Daimler Trucks North America’s new electric trucks on an Aug. 16 visit to the company’s new electric fueling station in Portland’s Swan Island Industrial District.
The two electric vehicle prototypes were made in Portland by members of Machinists Local 1005.
Local 1005 president Larry Bickett, a mechanic for UPS Freight, got wind of the event and wrangled permission to take the much larger eCascadia for a short freeway test drive. His take: “It was very quiet.”
Right now the two models are still being stall built in the plant’s test center, but Daimler is investing the Portland plant, where it plans to launch an electric truck assembly line in 2022.
