A Santa Claus mission for the Renault Trucks E-tech T Diamond Echo

Renault Trucks E-Tech T Diamond Echo has been given a new mission, setting off on the snowy roads of Lapland to reach Santa Claus, carrying letters from the children of employees of the company. The 4,000 km journey, which took place between 19 and 29 November, demonstrated that electric technology can cope with extreme cold without flinching. At the start of the year, this truck, the only one of its kind, had already achieved a double world first! As well as being the very first electroluminescent truck in the world, it was also the first electric truck to embark upon a tour of Europe.  

Four thousand kilometres. This is the distance covered by the Renault Trucks E-Tech T Diamond Echo between the Renault Trucks world headquarters in Lyon and Rovaniemi, the capital of Finnish Lapland and the official home of Santa Claus. Its cargo was a bag full of children's letters, collected from Renault Trucks employees, via social networks or slipped inside during the various stages of the journey.  On arrival, the precious bag was handed over in person... to Santa Claus!

The journey, which started in Lyon with stops in Colmar, Strasbourg and Hamburg, continued with a 30-hour ferry crossing to Helsinki. In Finland, the magic begins at 3.30pm, when night falls, providing the perfect backdrop for the Diamond Echo, whose electroluminescent paintwork lit up the polar night.

In Finland, it passed through the cities of Tampere, Jyväskylä (the ‘j’ is pronounced ‘ye’ and the ‘y’ is pronounced ‘u’), and Oulu, before finishing its mission in Rovaniemi. The trip demonstrated the performance of the Renault Trucks E-Tech T in harsh conditions, with temperatures reaching -15°C on some stages, including on 28 November. The journey also highlighted the development of the recharging network.

The Renault Trucks E-Tech T Diamond Echo is the first all-electric truck with an electroluminescent design. On 11 April 2024, this unique vehicle set off on a European tour from Bourg-en-Bresse, where it is produced.  It was a double world first: the first truck with an electroluminescent design and the first electric truck to embark on a European tour of more than 10,000 kilometres. It travelled through 7 countries to meet the transport community and demonstrate the operational feasibility of electric vehicles.

The Diamond Echo project is a perfect illustration of Renault Trucks' ambition to push back the limits of electromobility and prove that this technology is capable of accompanying hauliers on all roads, whether urban, national or polar!