Top 'green' awards for Mercedes-Benz vans

The development work which Mercedes-Benz Commercial Vehicles has been undertaking for almost three years in the areas of alternative fuels, hybrid drives, e-mobility and fuel-cell technology has once again been publicly recognised.

At this year's Fleet Transport Awards in Ireland, the company won two Green Commercial of the Year titles. They are awarded to manufacturers whose vehicles represent not only efficient transport solutions, but which also primarily feature alternative, environmentally-friendly drive technologies – and as a result make a significant contribution to improving the haulage sector's CO2 balance.

In the 'electric drive' category, the jury awarded top honours to the Mercedes-Benz Vito E-Cell, while the Atego BlueTec Hybrid won the 'hybrid' category.

"Daimler is the world market leader in green commercial vehicles, and has delivered around 15,000 vehicles using alternative drives to customers," said Hubertus Troska, the head of Mercedes-Benz Trucks. "We expect to make further advances in this area with the hybrid Atego which is about to embark on series production – marking the start of a new phase of our CleanDrive Technologies."

At the start of next year, a fleet of 50 Atego BlueTec Hybrids will be delivered to German customers to demonstrate their suitability for everyday use, and their ability to reduce fuel consumption and exhaust emissions by up to 15%.

The Vito E-Cell is the first commercial vehicle in its class to roll off the assembly line with a purely electric drive, powered by extremely powerful lithium-ion batteries capable of withstanding heavy loads. Initial production has started at the factory in Vitoria, Spain, and 2,000 units will be built next year.

With a payload of around 900kg, an operating range of around 130km and a top speed of 80km/hr, it is ideal for urban use and especially the short inter-urban stretches that frequently occur in densely-populated areas and suburbs.