DaimlerChrysler has won the "Goldener Öltropfen 2005" (Golden Drop of Oil 2005) - an annually presented energy and environment award - for its BlueTec diesel technology, as used in Mercedes Benz commercial vehicles. Now in its 25th year, this international accolade is awarded by the German automobile club "Kraftfahrer-Schutz e. V. (KS)" in recognition of those technical developments and organisational measures in the international passenger car and commercial vehicle sector which make a significant contribution towards reducing fuel consumption and safeguarding the environment. Patron and sponsor of the campaign is the German Minister for the Economy and Employment. Members of the jury include experts from the worlds of science, technology, journalism and politics, as well as the Bavarian Minister of State for the Environment, Health and Consumer Protection. The award will be handed over to DaimlerChrysler in Munich on June 24, 2005.

Any company which uses environmentally sound and fuel-saving technology in its vehicles can take part in this international competition. DaimlerChrysler clinched the coveted award on the strength of its BlueTec diesel technology for commercial vehicles. Based on SCR (Selective Catalytic Reduction) technology, the BlueTec technical solution for commercial vehicles ensures compliance with the future EURO 4 and EURO 5 emission standards as well as significantly reducing fuel consumption.

BlueTec features a highly efficient filter system and cuts fuel consumption

Mercedes Benz trucks featuring the new BlueTec diesel technology have been available since the beginning of the year. These vehicles already comply with the Euro 4 emission requirements that apply from 2006 as well as the Euro 5 emission standard that is not due to come into force until the autumn of 2009. Compared with the currently applicable regulations, this means at least eighty percent fewer particulate emissions and up to sixty percent fewer nitrogen oxides in exhaust gases. The new BlueTec drive systems offer a filter efficiency of 80 percent, based on the amount of particulate matter in the exhaust gases. Furthermore, Mercedes-Benz trucks equipped with a BlueTec engine consume between two and five percent less fuel than their conventional counterparts. For a long-distance haulage truck covering 150,000 km annually, for example, this equates to a fuel saving of between 1,500 and 2,000 litres per year, considerably easing the strain on both the haulier and the environment. This explains why the new diesel technology has been so well received by customers.

There are two components at the heart of the new diesel technology developed by DaimlerChrysler: an enhanced engine and an effective exhaust-gas aftertreatment system. Such is the efficiency of the combustion process at work that the level of engine-out particulate and soot emissions is as low as in filtered exhaust gases. Working on the SCR principle, the integrated exhaust-gas aftertreatment system then helps to ensure the controlled conversion of harmful nitrogen oxides into harmless nitrogen and water vapour in a catalytic converter, with AdBlue (an aqueous urea solution) being added as a reducing agent.