October 2009
The European bus and coach jury at this year's international bus and coach fair, "Busworld Kortrijk", has crowned the Mercedes-Benz Travego, currently available since the beginning of 2009 in its third generation, "Coach of the Year 2010". The trophy was awarded by Stuart Jones, president of the Coach of the Year jury, to Michael Göpfarth, manager of the Mercedes-Benz Bus and Coach Unit of EvoBus GmbH, on 15 October.
September 2009
Daimler has received the F-Cell Award for innovative use of fuel cell technology in the Mercedes-Benz Citaro FuelCELL Hybrid urban bus. Two employees accepted the award on behalf of Daimler last Monday during the F-Cell Conference in Stuttgart. “We are very delighted about this award as it once again highlights our innovative skill as the world’s largest bus manufacturer and also helps take us a big step toward our goal of zero-emission driving,” said Hartmut Schick, Head of Daimler Buses. “The award confirms that we also are the technology leader in the area of alternative drive technologies.”
Daimler AG has delivered the 10,000th Mercedes-Benz truck equipped with the Active Brake Assist feature for emergency braking. Hubert Troska, head of Mercedes-Benz's trucks division, handed over the anniversary vehicle, an Actros 1841 LS, to Robert Gammisch today. Mr Gammisch is managing director of the Log-In transport company, one of the largest logistics operators in the Czech Republic. "The Safety Truck brings us a big step closer to our vision of accident-free driving. Safety systems demonstrably help to reduce the number of accidents," observed Andreas Renschler, from the Board of Management of Daimler Trucks and Daimler Buses, at the handover.
The EU Commission has presented Daimler AG with an eSafety Award in the "Industry & Technology" category. The prize was awarded for the company’s longstanding commitment and pioneering role in the introduction of vehicle technologies designed to improve traffic safety. Zoran Stancic, deputy director general of the EU-commission, presented the award to Prof. Dr. Jörg Breuer, senior manager for Active Safety at Daimler AG.
Today leading industrial companies signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in Berlin with the participation of the German Minister of Transport, Wolfgang Tiefensee. The agreement intends the evaluation of the setup of a hydrogen infrastructure in Germany so as to promote serial production of electric vehicles with fuel-cell. This marks a major step towards the commercialization of such locally emission-free vehicles.
As last year, two of the internationally coveted “ÖkoGlobe” (EcoGlobe) environmental awards went to Daimler AG in 2009. Once again the jury thereby honoured the world’s oldest automobile manufacturer for its pioneering, innovative and environmentally friendly concepts and developments in the mobility sector. The award-winners were presented with prizes initiated by the artist HA Schult. Daimler AG received the environmental award together with Evonik Industries AG for their cooperation covering research, development and production of lithium-ion batteries in Germany. In addition the project car2go, which Daimler has already put successfully into operation in Ulm, was honoured with the “ÖkoGlobe” award. This completely new mobility concept currently provides smart fortwo cars within the town of Ulmthat can be immediately rented at low cost by anybody - around the clock. The two “ÖkoGlobe 2009” awards are in recognition of Daimler’s efforts and commitment to sustainable mobility. Yesterday the awards were officially received in Cologneby Prof. Herbert Kohler, Vice President Group Research and Advanced Engineering for e-drive & Future Mobility as well as Chief Environment Officer of Daimler AG.
Today, Daimler AG announced that the leading vehicle manufacturers in fuel cell technology - Daimler AG, Ford Motor Company, General Motors Corporation/Opel, Honda Motor Co., Ltd., Hyundai Motor Company, Kia Motors Corporation, the alliance Renault SA and Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. and Toyota Motor Corporation - gave a joint statement to the development and market introduction of electric vehicles with fuel cells with a Letter of Understanding (LoU). These companies have built up remarkable know-how in fuel cell technology and thus, the signing marks a major step towards the serial production of such locally emission-free vehicles.
The near-series Mercedes-Benz Concept BlueZERO E-CELL PLUS electric car combines environment-friendly electric mobility in the city with unrestricted suitability for long-distance driving. This is made possible by the combination of the battery-electric drive with a combustion engine. The range extender gives the BlueZERO E-CELL PLUS a total range of up to 600 kilometres, with 100 kilometres thereof solely under electric power and thus free of local emissions.
August 2009
The evidence is now clear: drivers of Mercedes vehicles are safer on the road than drivers of other car brands. This is the result of a study of Mercedes accident research based on official, anonymous data samples from the Federal Office of Statistics. Having looked at 18,748 accidents resulting in personal injury during the period from 2003 to 2007, the study found that the risk of being seriously or fatally injured as the driver of a E‑Class, is 10.4 percent lower than for comparable vehicles of other brands.
Mercedes-Benz is launching its first series-produced fuel cell car on the road: the B Class F-CELL. The environmentally friendly electric car has a performance similar to 2,0-litre petrol car and is fully suited for everyday driving. The zero-emission drive system consumes the equivalent of 3.3 litres of diesel per 100 kilometres in the NEDC (New European Driving Cicle). Production of the B Class F-CELL will commence in late 2009 with a small lot. The first of around 200 vehicles will be delivered to customers in Europe and the USA at the beginning of next year.
July 2009
Mercedes-AMG is paving the way ahead: with the new SLS AMG with electric drive, the performance brand within Mercedes-Benz Cars is developing an exciting super sports car with zero-emission high-tech drive. This model sees Mercedes-Benz and AMG displaying their expertise in the development of alternative drive solutions for high-performance super sports cars, delivering further proof of their pioneering status in this market segment.
June 2009
On the site of the OMV service station at Stuttgart Airport, OMV in cooperation with Linde AG and Daimler AG will be opening Baden-Württemberg’s first publicly accessible hydrogen filling station on June 17, 2009. This successful cooperation between the participating companies is subsidized by the State of Baden-Württemberg. The project is centered on the use of hydrogen as an environment-friendly energy medium.
