Continuing to bring its investments in the field of smart and environmentally friendly transportation analysis to the roads with mass production vehicles, Mercedes-Benz offers the eCitaro model in the field of electric city buses.
The world premiere of the fully electric Mercedes-Benz eCitaro, which offers an emission-free and quiet ride, was made at the Inter-Country Commercial Vehicle Fair in autumn 2018. Following the all-electric eCitaro added to the production program of the Mannheim Bus Factory in the fall of 2018, the company included the Bellows eCitaro in its mass production program last May. The R&D studies of eCitaro, whose new orders were received by the municipalities of many cities in Europe, were carried out by the R&D Center within the scope of the Hoşdere Bus Factory of Mercedes-Benz Türk.
Was developed in Turkey, hit the road in Europe
Within the scope of the global responsibilities of Daimler buses of Mercedes-Benz Türk Hoşdere R&D Center; eCitaro's bodywork, outer coverings, interior equipment, certain electrical scopes and diagnostic systems were developed at the Hoşdere R&D Center. Road tests, equipment endurance tests, hardware and infrastructure works of the new Bellows eCitaro as well as eCitaro were carried out at the Hoşdere R&D Center.
Millions of km tested
Bus R & D Center is located in a vehicle and 1.000.000 km of road conditions to provide the corresponding base Hidropuls simulation based on unit tests I performed ecitaro in Turkey; In addition, within the scope of road tests, all systems and equipment of the vehicles under the usual road, different climate and customer usage conditions have been on the road after long-term tests are tested for their function and long term durability.
In this context, eCitaro's first prototype vehicle; For 2 years, about 140.000 km for 10.000 hours; Istanbul, Erzurum and Izmir to extreme climatic conditions in Turkey and has been tested in all conditions encountered in different driving scenarios. Turkey under severe test of the global responsibility passed entirely ecitaro electric vehicles produced in Mannheim are delivered to various European cities.
New patents received
The Hoşdere Bus R&D Center, which has responsibilities in Daimler's global network in the field of buses, continues to incorporate new patents with new designs and engineering analyzes. ecitaro developed in Turkey for "New Roof Concept", only one of them. Within the scope of the project carried out by Mercedes-Benz Türk R&D Department, the ceiling design of the eCitaro was completed again. Starting from the back of the driver's compartment and extending to the rear window; roof hatches, roof center plates; The door, rear glass top, (in bellows) bellows area coverings, cable / pipe ducts, interior lighting, step lighting and air ducts were designed from scratch by Mercedes-Benz Türk R&D Interior Equipment Group.
Although the eCitaro does not have a roof escape hatch, thanks to the "New Roof Concept", it offers a larger area in the middle of the roof than before. In this way, both a more spacious appearance in interior design and more lighting surface are provided with the new "transverse lighting concept".
A patented R&D success: Weaving Air Channel
Weaving Air Channel, a patented work of Mercedes-Benz Türk R&D group, is also used in eCitaro models. In addition to being a very valuable factor for passenger comfort in urban vehicles, air conditioning can also be technically challenging in terms of power consumption, cooling / heating deadline, efficiency. In addition to these, electric vehicles need additional improvements in terms of power efficiency and noise-free operation. The CO2 refrigerant air conditioner preferred in eCitaro can provide effective heating / cooling at low and high temperatures with the efficiency of the heat pump.
In line with the needs of eCitaro, the Mercedes-Benz Türk R&D team has re-developed its own patented Weaving Air Channel. First of all, with a meticulous study, the optimum interior volume that can be used jointly for different air conditioning options was determined. In the mechanical relationship between the air conditioner and the air duct, the appropriate geometry / surface determination and minimization of air mixture and losses at the duct inlet were achieved by simulations. In this regard, joint studies were conducted with Istanbul Technical University and Stuttgart University for air flow analysis. In addition to providing homogeneous air distribution in the vehicle in terms of heating and cooling functions, the Weaving Air Channel can reach the predicted dB levels even in high periods, in accordance with the silent structure of the electric vehicle. The Weaving Air Channel, which provides a weighing advantage of approximately 100 kg compared to its successor, the old air duct, also provides a valuable advantage for the eCitaro in terms of passenger number and range. The Weaving Air Channel, which provides both lightness, practicality and bringing the weighing center closer to the ground in buses, also provides efficiency in terms of logistics in addition to production or spare module stocking.
Emre Kuzucu: "We developed the smart phone application for eCitaro in Hoşdere"
Mercedes-Benz Türk Bus R&D Manager Emre Kuzucu; “Our R&D center, which assumes new responsibilities every day in the bus field of Daimler; It continues its R&D activities for buses in different markets of the world, especially in Europe. For the eCitaro, the adaptation of the existing body to the electric vehicle, the battery carriers, the exterior coatings that provide a contemporary appearance suitable for the electric vehicle were designed in our R&D center in Hoşdere. In addition, all of these have been developed again for the Bellows eCitaro at our R&D center in Hosdere. The body of the eCitaro was created through adaptation studies, capable of carrying scales from batteries. The outer coverings were renewed for the eCitaro as a result of the work carried out in conjunction with the design section, the coverings required for the batteries and other equipment on the ceiling were also applied to the Bellows eCitaro within the framework of the modular structure previously created for the bellows eCitaro. The coatings on the ceiling were designed to provide maintenance and repair facilities, and to provide the necessary accessibility for battery replacement and air conditioning maintenance, while providing all ceiling versions within a modular structure. said.
Referring to the technological details of eCitaro, Emre Kuzucu; “We developed the OMNIplus ON drive smartphone application separately for eCitaro in Hoşdere. With the smart phone application, which is a special instrument panel for eCitaro and facilitates the work of electric vehicle drivers; We have provided an environment where drivers can see the status of their batteries, the range of the vehicle and valuable information about electric vehicles. Drivers can log in to this application with their own user information and access the information on the vehicles they have been assigned as responsible. " said.
New deliveries are added to Europe
The first delivery of the Mercedes-Benz eCitaro was made to Wiesbaden, Germany on November 18, 2019 with 56 units, and this was the highest number of electric buses ordered in Germany at one time. Since that date; ECitaro is also used on the roads of cities such as Hamburg, Berlin, Mannheim and Heidelberg. New orders continue to be received with the Bellows eCitaro, which has been included in the serial production program as of May 2020. - Carmedia.com
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