ACT Expo 2025 – new electric Mack trucks are coming, one is already here [part 3]

Mack showed up to the 2025 ACT Expo with a brand-new Mack Pioneer Class 8 semi and promises of a 300 mile electric version arriving next year, but when I asked them about the Mack LR Electric rear-loader shown above, they got real quiet. More, after the break.

The Mack LR Electric is a known quantity in the refuse truck space already, with a number of the trucks providing quiet, dependable service throughout the country as I type this — with many municipalities being so happy with their initial orders that they’ve committed to taking their fleets fully electric. Despite that success, however, one thing has been missing from the Mack LR Electric refuse truck offering that’s been requested by a number of municipal service fleets: a rear loader model.

Imagine my surprise when, two days after my good friend Jonathan Segal sent me a photo of a bright red Mack LR Electric rear loader, complete with “100% ELECTRIC” decals, patrolling the streets of Boston, Mack executives did not announce a new electric rear loader. I was even more surprised when I showed them the photo in question (at top), and they responded with a pause, then a careful, “we can’t comment on future product.”

And while, yes, most of these configurations are determined by upfitters like Heil and I’m sure anyone with a Mack LR Electric chassis and an Adidas gym bag’s weight in cash could get it done, that would have been an easy enough thing to tell me, too.

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A factory Mack LR Electric rear loader is, apparently, in the works. Stay tuned for updates.

Lots more Mack news at ACT

The sprawling Mack display at ACT was dominated by the all-new 2026 Mack Pioneer Class 8. Making its public debut in a jet-black sleeper configuration, the Pioneer was one the stars of the show, though the Mack LR Electric side-loader and Terex-developed MD Electric Utility bucket truck were also hugely popular.

The big Pioneer felt a bit out of place at ACT Expo, considering it’s a diesel-engined truck at a clean trucking expo. Mack’s people reassured the assembled press that its latest diesel semi was, at least, a much cleaner diesel than those of years past. Improved fuel economy means fewer carbon emissions, they said, as well as lower operating costs, while new emission control technology and engine tuning means fewer nitrous-oxide emissions, too.

Oh, did I mention the new Pioneer could run on 100% HVO diesel? As a low-er carbon fuel it’s a step in the right direction, I guess — but there are far bigger environmental wins to be had with battery power … and Mack fans won’t have to long for that, either.

Mack announces Pioneer Electric

It’s just a slide in a deck so far, but the new Proterra-powered Mack Pioneer Electric promises more than 300 miles of fully loaded, 82,000 lb. combined vehicle weight range on the EPA cycle and the requisite DC fast charging that, in a current (read: previous-gen) Volvo VNR Electric, a 250 kW charger can get the big electric semi back to 80% charge and on the road in under 90 minutes. With megawatt charging and a more efficient battery, the next-gen Volvo VNL Electric (on which the Pioneer Electric will be based) will do the same trick in under 30.

For their part, Mack executives are confident their new Pioneer — regardless of powerplant — is going to be a winner. “The Mack Pioneer represents a transformative leap forward in commercial vehicle development, setting a new benchmark for what drivers and fleets should expect from their equipment,” said Jonathan Randall, president of Mack Trucks North America. “This isn’t just another truck – it’s a complete reimagining of the conventional model, redefining efficiency, uptime, safety and comfort through breakthrough innovations that prioritize both driver experience and operational excellence.”

The Mack Pioneer Electric is expected to bow in 2026, with deliveries of the American-made trucks presumably beginning sometime in early 2027.

Original content by Electrek.

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