Mercedes-Benz has been recognised for its role in reducing emissions from commercial vehicles. The firm’s commercial vehicle arm picked up two awards for its development of alternative fuel technology, from leading Irish specialist publication ‘Fleet Transport Magazine’.
The two ‘Green Commercial of the Year’ awards given as part of this year’s Fleet Transport Awards, recognise the role the Stuttgart manufacturer has played in areas of alternative fuels, hybrid drives, e-mobility and fuel-cell technology.
Its achievements include the development of the Vito E-Cell, an electric version of its popular electric light commercial vehicle, the Vito. For this the German manufacturer took the award in the ‘electric drive’ category. With a payload of around 900 kg, this van is the first commercial vehicle in its class to roll off the assembly line with a purely electric drive, run by powerful lithium-ion batteries capable of withstanding heavy loads. With its operating range of around 130 km, the Vito E-Cell also has a top speed of 80 km/h.
Meanwhile the title of ‘Green Commercial of the Year’ in the hybrid category was also awarded to Mercedes’ Atego BlueTec Hybrid. Featuring a compact and light four-cylinder diesel engine, this hybrid truck also uses a electric motor with a maximum output of 44 kW and is powered by high-energy, high-performance lithium-ion batteries. As a full parallel hybrid this commercial is capable of reducing fuel consumption and exhaust emissions by up to 15 per cent compared to its non-hybrid counterpart.
At the start of 2011, a fleet of 50 Atego BlueTec Hybrid vehicles will be delivered to German customers in the distribution transportation sector to demonstrate the suitability for everyday use of this important future technology. The vehicles are to be incorporated into the "Electric mobility promotion programme" of the Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Affairs (BMVBS).
