09/06/08

Mercedes: the Road to the Future Plan goes ahead

Two hybrids on their way for next year, fuel cell B class production scheduled by 2010

Because of skyrocketing crude oil price and the great environmental challenges urging to reduce CO2 emissions, premium automakers have to gear up research and technological innovation in order to be able to meet the new changes in a rapid way. Mercedes has a long and medium term strategy aiming at developing transmission module technologies which will be used on their own or in combination, according to vehicle class and drivers’ requirements.

Thanks to the “Road to the Future” plan, introduced at the latest Frankfurt Motor Show, the German automaker has identified the guidelines for the development of future cars.

Now, after nine months’ time there is interesting news about the state-of-the-art plan which, however, includes different technologies: actually, Mercedes managers claim that there won’t be only one to lead in the pathway to sustainable mobility.

The project envisages the improvement of traditional engines by making them smaller, equipping them with direct gasoline injection, turbo-charged system and BlueTEC technology. Further changes will concern the cars’ aerodynamics, their materials and components. Another key element in the plan is the cars’ hybridization which consists in equipping them either with the basic Start&Stop device or the more advanced bi-modal system as well as with li-ion batteries and fuel cells. As far as bio-fuels are concerned, instead, Mercedes is working on the bio-mass derived Sundiesel.

The plan also hints at the Blue Efficiency lineup, with a package of tweaks enabling each vehicle to have 12% savings thanks to a lower weight , improved aerodynamics and a better energy management of the onboard instruments. Downsizing is the key feature of the Blue Efficiency label and it will be adopted by the whole range: now the present C180 KOMPRESSOR has got a 1.6 l engine instead of the previous 1.8 l one, the performance is the same but fuel consumption and gas emissions are lower.

As for diesel oil, the Bluetec system is something real: for example, in the USA Mercedes has became the first automaker that has managed to acquire the diesel type-certification everywhere across the country.

Next year there will be the US debut first of the hybrid Ml 450 and then of the S 400 BlueHYBRID, a flagship whose consumption is around 7.9 l/100 km.

Anyway, also the research on diesel-hybrid systems is going on: actually, the German automaker will be using them on conventional models and they will have the same features as the Vision GLK BlueTEC HYBRID concept which combines the V8 engine’s performance with consumption similar to an economy car’s, that is, 5.9 l/100km.

A new step into the future is represented by the Diesotto engine which is the combination of the diesel engine’s features with the ones of a turbocharged direct injection gasoline engine. This is the solution provided with by the F 700 concept, which was also equipped with a hybrid module.

The Daimler group has also invested in electric vehicles and managed to hit London’s roads with a 100 units of battery-powered Smart Fortwo, which enjoy special tax breaks and are Congestion Charging free. Finally, as concerns fuel cells, the B F-cell Class is scheduled to be mass-produced in 2010 and will be powered by new generation batteries.