All New 2011 Mercedes Benz Vito E-Cell
With the first battery-electric van to be introduced ex factory by any automobile manufacturer, 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 Mercedes-Benz 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 in 2010, and a further 2000 units are planned from 2011.
Deliveries to inner-city areas and pedestrian precincts, operations in areas with rigorous access restrictions, in-company transport in production shops, delivery access via underground car parks - the quiet, emission-free Mercedes-Benz Vito E-Cell with its purely battery-electric drive system is the perfect answer to the question of delivery operations in environmentally sensitive areas. 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 protecting e.g. health resorts or 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 Mercedes-Benz 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.
In place of the usual four and six-cylinder engines plus peripheral units of the Mercedes-Benz Vito, the engine cover of the Vito E-Cell conceals the electric motor and its ancillary systems. The electric motor, a permanent synchronous unit, develops a continuous output of 60 kW and a peak output of 70 kW. Maximum torque is 280 Nm.
As the full torque is inherently available right from the start in electric motors, the Vito E-Cell delivers dynamic performance at the familiar, high level of modern diesel engines. In view of the typical operating profile for the Mercedes-Benz Vito E-Cell, and in the interests of maximising the operating range of the batteries, the van's top speed is limited to 80 km/h.
Power is transferred to the front wheels via a single-speed transmission. This efficient unit was likewise developed specifically for the Mercedes-Benz Vito E-Cell.
To save installation space for the batteries, and in contrast to the other models in the Vito series, the vehicle has front-wheel drive. With the exception of a few suspension components adopted from the Vito 4x4, the front-wheel drive system was specially developed for the Mercedes-Benz Vito E-Cell.
In addition to the electric motor, other components such as the power electronics, transformer and the mains charging unit are accommodated beneath the engine cover. The 12 V onboard network was also completely newly developed.
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