Mercedes launches first van with ex factory battery-electric drive

With the first battery-electric van to be introduced ex factory by any OEM, Mercedes-Benz is opening a new chapter in drive technology for light commercial vehicles. Thanks to its emission-free drive system, the Mercedes-Benz Vito E-CELL is ideally suitable for inner-city operations and for particularly environmentally sensitive areas. The Vito E-CELL operates with no emissions and almost silently, and imposes no restrictions on the operator in terms of load capacity and payload. Production of a small series of 100 Vito E-CELL vans has already commenced this year, and a further 2000 units are planned from 2011.

Designed to assist delivery operations in environmentally sensitive areas, Mercedes believes the quiet, emissions-free Vito E-Cell will be widely adopted by those tasked with making deliveries to inner-city areas and pedestrian precincts, and conducting operations in areas with rigorous access restrictions. Moreover, the Vito E-CELL is not only able to carry out its transport assignments in areas with high exhaust pollution, but also where there are noise restrictions, such as in residential areas with night-time driving bans.

In response to the growing environmental burden in the densely populated areas of Europe and other regions of the world, the relevant authorities are increasingly introducing vehicle access restrictions in the form of environmental zones based on emissions or with time constraints. Emission-free vehicles with electric drive are usually exempted. Accordingly the Vito E-CELL is eminently suitable for environmentally sensitive areas, both in commercial and public service operations, and in many areas of the service sector including e.g. parcel and postal deliveries, maintenance work and for other service providers.

There are also numerous incentive schemes for the purchase of emission-free vehicles. These are available in many countries and take widely different forms, ranging from direct purchasing subsidies to significant reductions in toll charges or vehicle taxes and exemption from access restrictions.

28 July 2010