Interview: Jorge Rosa, President and Chief Executive, Mitsubishi Fuso Truck Europe

The Fuso Canter is the best selling truck in the Daimler Trucks product range, and it comes in several variants. In 2013, Mitsubishi Fuso Truck and Bus Corporation (MFTBC) unveiled the second-generation prototype of its Canter E-Cell – a battery-electric light-duty truck with a range of over 100km (62 miles) and a limited top speed of 90kph (56mph). Although it is still not on sale, this version embodied the advances that the company made in electric powertrains since the first generation was shown in 2010 at Frankfurt Motor Show (IAA).

Fast-forward to June 2014, and MFTBC announced that eight of the Canter E-Cells, in both flatbed and box variants, would be placed in trials across Portugal to closely examine their real-world performance under different applications. The city of Porto used the truck for recycling purposes, while Lisbon, Abrantes and Cascais each used one for horticultural and waste disposal.