The Vito E-Cell is the first electric vehicle mass-produced in Spain. It will be fabricated by Mercedes-Benz Spain, in the factory of Vitoria-Gasteiz. The first manufactured units (91 already) were presented on the February 7th 2011. The goal is to produce 474 units by the end of the year. Most of them will be sold to foreign companies (mainly in Germany; Berlin and Stuttgart), though the Basque supermarket gamble Eroski has got four vans gor distribution duties.
Last year, the gobernment made a plan in order to encourage this kind of cars. 590 millions € will be funded, from which 7 have gone to the 'E-Cell' project. This project will also be supported by the Basque and German gobernments.
Mercedes-Benz has chosen its Spanish factory in Vitoria for fabricating exclusively this van, which will substitute the current models Vito and Viano (the commercial-transport and passenger-carrier versions, respectively).
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The Vito E-Cell is a long van, with a distance of 3.2 metres between the axes, so that there is enough space for the batteries. With this aim of saving space, only the front-drive version is offered, unlike in the previous model, so a long developement was needed, although some suspension components of the AWD (all-wheel drive) version were used. The vehicle has a payload capacity of 900 kg, and a permissible total weight of three tons (3.050 kg, exactly).
The car does not show external changes with the other versions (except for the decoration): the body has not been modified, both the double side door and the helpful back 'gate' remain as before. The place for the refueling has also been used for the recharging conexion.
The Vito E-Cell has got a complete and modern equipment. Among the main novelties, this model has a special heater connected to the high voltage network and to the basic heating system, in order to ensure pleasant conditions even in the coldest months. Besides, the driver's seat is heatable.
The car has also a multifunction steering wheel and electrically adjustable exterior mirrors. Another new feature is a reversing camera which sends images to the driver's screen, letting him/her identify obstacles and pedestrians (there is an acoustic warning too) during low-speed maneuvering.
In terms of safety, the new Mercedes keeps the same level as the other Vito models. The vehicle has an internal combustion engine, so, if a collision occurs, the batteries are protected by a shock element. The active safety also makes that the high-technology voltage network turns off when the airbag control unit activates. The Vito E-Cell comes standard with the Electronic Stability Program (ESP) and dual airbags.
This van is driven by an electric battery. This battery is placed under the chassis (where the petrol tank and the propeller shaft are normally), while the engine, the transformer and the charger are located in the engine's (a block of four or six cylinders) usual position, under the hood.
On the one hand, the battery consists of a Lithium ion battery pack split into 16 modules with 192 cells in all, with high energy density and a rated voltage of 360 volts. They are supplied by the company Magna, and they have a maximum range of 130 km (just as the engine), but this can be reduced by the weather conditions, the ground's topography or even the cargo volume. Actually, it is considered that a range between 90 km and 100 km could be more real, anyway, it is supposed to be enough for a workday in urban delivery. The batteries weigh 550 kg, and its life is still unknown. Their total charge time is six hours through a high voltage system (380 or 400 volts); in the home network of 230 volts the total charge time is double, about 12 hours. The total battery capacity is 36 kW/h, 32 kW/h are available for the vehicle operation. Moreover, Mercedes-Benz offers the vehicle in the form of 'renting', in which the manufacturer takes charge of updating the batteries when necessary.
On the other hand, the electric engine is a permanent synchronous magnet drive with a constant power of 60 kW (equivalent to 81,6 hp) and a maximum power of 70 kW (about 95 hp). The speed is limited to 80 km/h, and it has a maximum torque of 280 Nm instantly available (from the very start), which lets the van have a similar dynamic performance (specially in the gear) to another one equipped with a modern diesel engine.