Daimler has received the "F-Cell Award" for innovative implementation of fuel-cell technology in the Mercedes-Benz Citaro FuelCELL Hybrid urban bus. Two Daimler AG staff members accepted the award on behalf of Daimler last Monday during the F-Cell Conference in Stuttgart. "We are delighted to receive this award. As the world’s largest bus and coach manufacturer, we once again demonstrate our creativeness, making a great leap forward on the road to emission-free driving", said Hartmut Schick, Head of Daimler Buses. "The distinction confirms our position as technology leader, in the field of alternative drive technologies, too."

The F-Cell Award was established by the Baden-Württemberg Ministry for Environment and the Stuttgart Region Economic Development Corporation (Wirtschaftsförderung Region Stuttgart GmbH) in conjunction with EnBW Energie Baden-Württemberg AG and awarded for the ninth time. The innovation award endowed by the state of Baden-Württemberg honours user-friendly developments related to fuel cell technology.

Together with their teams, the Daimler employees Monika Kentzler and Wolfram Fleck from “E-Drive and Future Mobility” and Michael Edig from EvoBus GmbH were instrumental in the development of the Mercedes-Benz Citaro FuelCELL Hybrid. “We are proud that these three employees, as well as the many others who were involved in the project, achieved such a great feat,” says Hartmut Schick. “It demonstrates how commitment and interdisciplinary cooperation can result in pioneering solutions.”

The Mercedes-Benz Citaro FuelCELL Hybrid made its debut last June at the International Association of Public Transport (UITP) World Congress in Vienna. The fuel cell hybrid bus is the first of Daimler Buses’ new generation of fuel cell buses. It combines the advantages of the diesel-electric Citaro G BlueTec® Hybrid, which had been unveiled a few months earlier, with those of the hydrogen-powered Citaro fuel cell buses.

An exceptional feature of the Mercedes-Benz Citaro FuelCELL Hybrid is its comprehensive environmental compatibility: it emits absolutely no pollutants while in motion, as well as also being virtually silent, which makes it ideal for use in highly congested inner cities and metropolitan areas.

Later this year Daimler Buses will produce a small series of about 30 of these new-generation fuel cell buses and offer them to European mass transit companies. The Mercedes-Benz Citaro FuelCELL Hybrid bus will undergo extensive testing in several cities throughout Europe. This test series will proceed along the lines of the successful CUTE fleet test conducted by the European Union between 2003 and 2006.

Since 2003 a total of 36 Mercedes-Benz Citaro buses equipped with fuel cell drives have displayed top performance for 12 public transport agencies on three continents as part of the CUTE test and other related testing programs. In approximately 135,000 hours of operation, during which the buses covered a total of more than two million kilometres, the environmentally friendly fuel cell drive system impressively demonstrated its ability to function properly under everyday operating conditions.

The Mercedes-Benz Citaro FuelCELL Hybrid was developed within the framework of Daimler’s global commercial vehicle initiative “Shaping Future Transportation.” The aim of this initiative is to use clean, efficient drive systems together with alternative fuels to make zero-emission commercial vehicles a reality for tomorrow’s transportation needs. The Shaping Future Transportation initiative includes using resources sparingly, reducing emissions of every kind and guaranteeing maximum traffic safety at the same time.