Daimler Debuts Mercedes-Benz Citaro FuelCELL Diesel-Electric Hybrid City Bus
By Scott Doggett June 8, 2009
Daimler is presenting its new Mercedes-Benz Citaro FuelCELL Hybrid city bus to a conference of public transport authorities in Vienna all of this week.
The fuel-cell hybrid bus is the first vehicle in Daimler's new generation of fuel-cell buses. According to its maker, the bus combines the environmental advantages of the diesel-electric Citaro G BlueTec Hybrid with those of the hydrogen-powered Citaro fuel cell buses, which have delivered impressive performance in fleet tests.
The Mercedes-Benz Citaro FuelCELL Hybrid runs without emitting any pollutants and is virtually silent, making it ideal for use in highly congested inner-cities and urban areas.
Daimler is the No. 1 busmaker by volume worldwide. If any company is positioned to revolutionize that market, it's Daimler. And clearly the compnay is attempting to do just that.
The Mercedes-Benz Citaro FuelCELL Hybrid was developed within the framework of Daimler's global commercial vehicle initiative to use clean, efficient drive systems and alternative fuels to make zero-emission commercial vehicles a reality.
The fuel-cell systems used are identical with those installed in the Mercedes-Benz B-Class F-CELL passenger car, for which small-lot production will begin later this year. Several components were also borrowed from the B-Class F-CELL, with developers mutually benefiting from their respective test results.
Daimler will produce a small batch of about 30 vehicles of this new generation of fuel-cell buses and offer them to European mass transit companies.
Beginning in fall, Daimler will be conducting extensive, large-scale testing of the Mercedes-Benz Citaro FuelCell Hybrid bus in a number of European cities.
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