Sam Fender becomes first musician to tour with all-electric trucks

Sam Fender has made sustainability history after becoming the first musician to tour with a fleet of all-electric Mercedes eActros 600 lorries.

The British rocker used four Mercedes-Benz eActros 600s to support his sell-out UK and Ireland ‘People Watching’ tour, which ran across seven venues from June to August this year.

By switching to all-electric power, Fender and his crew saved a total of 840kg worth of CO2 over the 943 miles they covered; the equivalent of what 34 mature trees can absorb each year. Given gig venues do not come with their own charging stations, the eActros drivers were reliant on the UK and Northern Ireland’s public charging infrastructure.

“Transport is a key part of any live music tour, but we wanted to make the People Watching Tour as green and sustainable as possible,” said Richard Burnett, the managing director of KB Event, who provided the tour logistics. “Until now, electric trucks weren’t seen as viable for big tours, but the eActros 600 has shown they can deliver the performance, the range, and the reliability.”

Fender himself was equally enthusiastic, and added: “Hopefully, this will help show what can be achieved on future tours and other artists will jump onboard too.”

This latest achievement isn’t the first time that the eActros 600 has hit the headlines for all of the right reasons: the Mercedes F1 team took advantage of the lorry’s minimum range of 311 miles to transport its two W16 cars to the Dutch Grand Prix from its English base.

Given the 434-mile trip to Zandvoort was problem free, the multiple title-winning team plans to use its all-electric eActros fleet for the European races during the coming seasons.

The Mercedes eActros 600 comes with a 600kW battery. Its megawatt charging system means the long-range truck can be charged from 20-80% in 25 minutes. Since it went on sale in early 2025, the all-electric eActros 600 has become a popular choice amongst logistics firms, with Amazon buying 140 of them for its zero-emissions fleet.