EvCompass
DiscontinuedBattery electricTractorN3 — may qualify · up to PLN 750,000

Independent heavy-vehicle dossier

pepper motion etrofit Mercedes-Benz Actros MP5 / MP3 18 t 4x2 tractor

240 kWh across four 60 kWh packs turns a diesel Actros into an EV — a pepper motion kit, not a factory-built truck.

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pepper motion etrofit Mercedes-Benz Actros MP5 / MP3 18 t 4x2 tractor — Side profile

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250 km

Range

manufacturer claim

350 kW

DC charging

4x2

Axle configuration

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Buying decision

The EvCompass verdict

The key arguments drawn from the published data and the EvCompass editorial summary.

A 250 km range and 350 kW peak DC charging put the etrofit Actros in the regional segment, and the price sat in a 270,000-290,000 EUR band for the finished vehicle. More important than the spec is the company's fate: after a February 2024 insolvency, pepper motion repositioned itself as a drive-kit supplier, and in January 2026 the brand was sold to the Haller Group. Poland was one of five core markets named at the 2022 launch, but a buyer today gets only a conversion kit, not a finished truck.

Strengths

  • 350 kW DC charging and a 240 kWh battery define a clearly specified Actros conversion for daily regional transport.

Weaknesses

  • After the 2024 insolvency and the 2026 sale of the brand, the finished converted truck is no longer available to buy — only the conversion kit.

The full picture

Specifications

Manufacturer-published facts grouped by the decisions they inform, without raw source headings.

Battery and charging

Gross battery
240 kWh
DC charging
350 kW
On charging
pepper kit spec: Type 2 CCS, DC up to 350 kW, 650 V system, chargebyte charge controller, ISO 15118 bidirectional-ready. pepper's own worked example is 240 kWh from 8 % to 80 % in about 70 min on a 150 kW charger.

Powertrain

Powertrain
Battery electric
Axle configuration
4x2

Mass and load

Gross vehicle weight
18,000 kg

Market and year

Model year from
2,023
Markets
DE, AT, FR, IT, PL
Production status
Discontinued
Vehicle class
N3
Measurement basis
manufacturer, first vehicles with four 60 kWh packs (240 kWh total); pepper positioned it for day journeys with interim charging rather than one-charge long haul

These are manufacturer-published figures gathered through EvCompass research.

Price and availability

What it costs and whether it is available in Poland

Published price evidence and the Polish availability answer, kept together for a buying decision.

280,000 EUR

Confidence: High

pepper published a range of EUR 270,000-290,000 for the converted truck in its 8 September 2022 launch release; 280,000 is the midpoint recorded here, the true figure is a 270k-290k band. Eligible for German BMDV zero-emission commercial vehicle funding, and offered on leasing, hire purchase or as-a-service. The price is for a finished converted vehicle; pepper also converted a customer's own donor truck, in which case the donor is supplied by the fleet and is not in this figure.

Source: pepper motion GmbH press release, 8 September 2022 (PDF)

Poland

Available in Poland

Poland was one of the five core target markets named in pepper's own 2022 launch release, and pepper stated it had sales partners in Italy, France and Poland. That was the position in 2022; after the February 2024 insolvency and the January 2026 sale to the Haller Group the vehicle-conversion offer is no longer marketed, so a Polish buyer today would be buying a drive kit through a conversion partner, not a finished truck from pepper.

Charging infrastructure

Recommended chargers

Chargers matched to the vehicle's published power or to a clearly stated duty profile when that figure is missing.

This vehicle charges at up to 350 kW DC — the chargers below are matched to that figure.

Browse all chargers

Sources and research

Research notes

The sources and research notes behind the figures, claims and editorial assessment.

RETROFIT. Donor chassis: Mercedes-Benz Actros MP5 (the 2019-on tractor) and Mercedes-Benz Actros MP3, converted as an 18 t 4x2 tractor unit in lowliner, low-frame or standard-frame form. Almost all the press photography is of the MP3 conversion, which pepper had running with customers from 2021; the MP5 was the 2023 series product. Motor: pepper's kit page names the ZF CeTrax central drive as the unit used in the Actros MP3 conversion but publishes no kW or Nm for the truck, so motor power is left null rather than guessed. Battery is pepper's own NMC pack in 60 kWh modules, 120 kWh minimum and up to 720 kWh depending on vehicle - the Actros launch spec was four modules, 240 kWh. COMPANY STATUS, which matters more than the spec here. e-troFit GmbH renamed itself pepper motion GmbH in 2021, so 'e-troFit' and 'pepper motion' are the same company and the etrofit kit brand survives the rename. Sequence: Sept 2022 Actros MP5 launched, series production from Q2 2023, plan of ~50 units in 2023 and ~2,500 by 2030; May 2023 restructuring announced; 2 Nov 2023 pepper repositioned itself publicly as a technology supplier of drive kits rather than a vehicle seller; Nov 2023 announced a large India plant that never happened; February 2024 filed for insolvency in self-administration at the Ingolstadt district court, citing weak demand in its e-bus and e-truck core; June 2024 bought by an unnamed Turkish strategic investor who took the German operations and the modular electric/hydrogen drive know-how; the insolvent shell was renamed pm Abwicklungs GmbH. As of the site checked 2026-08-28 pepper is 'a brand of Andreas Haller Holding GmbH' in Gersthofen, following a Haller Group press release dated 19 January 2026 (Augsburg, 14 January 2026) announcing the acquisition of pepper - Andreas Haller is the founder of Quantron, whose QHM BEV is separately in this dataset. The site now sells drive systems and charge management, not converted trucks, so productionStatus is set to discontinued for the vehicle. pepper also names Paul Nutzfahrzeuge GmbH as a customer taking pepper zero-emission drivetrains both for retrofit and as Tier-1 kits for new vehicles. No rear or rear-three-quarter press image of this truck exists in pepper's media library.

Data confidence

MEDIUM

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