Kenworth Launches T680E Revamp, Unveils Battery-Electric T880
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Kenworth launched a revamped version of the battery-electric configuration of its T680 tractor April 28 at the 2025 Advanced Clean Transportation Expo in Anaheim, Calif.
Paccar unit Kenworth also launched a battery-electric T880E, its first Class 8 battery-electric vocational truck.
The redesigned T680E is available to order immediately, with customer deliveries scheduled to begin later in 2025. It will be available as a day cab as either a tractor or straight truck in a 6×4 axle configuration.
The legacy T680E was launched in October 2020 and was Kenworth’s first Class 8 battery-electric truck. T680Es initially came in tractor configurations of 4×2 and 6×4 axles and as a 6×4-axle straight truck, with the powertrain a collaboration with Meritor.
The latest T680E offers a powertrain developed in-house at Paccar. Kenworth said Paccar’s ePowertrain delivers 365 to 470 horsepower continuous power and up to 605 hp peak with 1,850 pound-feet of torque.
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“Development has probably taken five years. We made a conscious effort to start this program, knowing we wanted it to be a ground-up development,” Chief Engineer said during a preview of the trucks at the Paccar Technical Center in Mount Vernon, Wash.
A total of 46 pre-production trucks are currently on the road, he said, adding that Kenworth carried out North American and European testing.
The revamped T680E will offer three battery configurations, the largest of which is a 500-kilowatt hour battery pack that delivers more than 200 miles of range and is offered up to 82,000-pound gross vehicle weight rating. Charging up to 90% is expected to take about two hours.
“This move to a fully integrated and ground-up Paccar design means we were able to design for enhanced serviceability, providing easier access to the master service disconnects for improved safety and increased uptime and allowing the use of the DAVIE service tool for troubleshooting and diagnostics,” Adams said in a statement.
Kenworth is targeting the short- and regional-haul, less-than-truckload and drayage segments of the freight market with the tractor.
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The T880Es also will utilize the in-house powertrain. The T880E offers four battery options, allowing a customizable range from 100 miles to more than 250 miles.
Paccar added 200 employees in North America to design and build the in-house powertrain.
The trucks have central drive motors rather than e-axles to maximize vocational fleet customers’ options, Adams told reporters during the preview.
T880Es feature factory-installed options for high- and low-voltage electric power takeoff (ePTO) ports, which can be utilized to power equipment, a mechanical ePTOor body configurations in conjunction with aftermarket body upfitters.
The battery fuel cell for the truck is from China’s CATL. In the future though, Paccar battery-electric trucks will source their fuel cells from the company’s Amplify Cell Technologies joint venture.
A JV with Cummins’ Accelera unit and Daimler Trucks & Buses, Amplify expects to begin producing fuel cells in 2027. Construction of Amplify’s manufacturing plant in Marshall County, Miss., began in June 2024.
Both new battery-electric trucks offer a new 15-inch DriverConnect digital touchscreen, too.
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“The Kenworth T880E marks a groundbreaking milestone in Kenworth’s history as we bring to market the first Class 8 battery-electric solution built for vocational applications,” said , assistant general manager for sales and marketing.
“The T880E is engineered to meet the evolving needs of operators and vocational fleets while still providing the durability, reliability and customization our customers expect,” he added.
“We know that there isn’t the same business case as there was [when planning for the truck began],” said Powertrain Marketing Manager Sarah Abernethy, adding that this opened a number of doors for vocational buyers.
“A lot of customers will be in the municipal space, where there is more funding,” she said during the PTC briefing. “We expect there will be fleet customers too.”
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