Stuttgart/Rome – Daimler AG is launching its next electric mobility project in cooperation with Enel, Italy’s largest energy supplier. In 2010, the “e-mobility Italy” initiative will see more than 100 electric cars of the smart and Mercedes-Benz brands roll onto the streets of Rome, Milan and Pisa. Enel will be responsible for developing and setting up over 400 charging stations especially for this purpose in the three cities. The project aims to further develop automotive technology and an intelligent infrastructure, and also establish open standards. Infrastructure is a particularly important issue in Italy, where the majority of vehicles are parked in city streets.

Following “e-mobility Berlin”, this is the next large-scale Daimler initiative for urban electric mobility, and further projects in Europe and the US are currently in the pipeline. Daimler is also in talks with numerous companies to promote hydrogen infrastructure, since, in addition to battery-powered electric vehicles, Daimler regards fuel-cell vehicles as having the greatest potential for electric and emissions-free driving, also over long distances.  

Daimler and the German utility company RWE AG have together initiated “e-mobility Berlin”, one of the largest projects in the world for trialling battery-powered vehicles. From late 2009, a fleet of more than 100 electric Mercedes-Benz and smart cars will be deployed in Berlin. The cars will be running on green electricity, provided by RWE at 500 charging points around the city.

In July 2007, Daimler AG began a project in London, supplying selected clients with 100 smart fortwo electric-drive cars for their vehicle fleets. The environmentally friendly drive system proves its worth in the city every day, and also has a particular local benefit, since the smart fortwo electric-drive car can be driven for free in central London, avoiding the otherwise usual “congestion charge” of eight British pounds per day.

A joint research cooperative venture on electric drive systems between Daimler AG and the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology has also been initiated. The “Projekthaus e-drive” (“e-drive project house”) aims to greatly speed up the development of electric and hybrid vehicles towards market maturity. Bundling the fields of power electronics, control and feedback control systems, and also electric storage units and electrical machines together under one roof for the first time in the “Projekthaus e-drive” will create valuable synergies that will efficiently drive research on sustainable mobility.

Daimler began research into the deployment of fuel-cell technology back in 1994, and has consequently built up the most extensive expertise in relation to electric drive systems. The fleet of around 100 fuel-cell vehicles have clocked up a total of four million emissions-free kilometres, and, from 2010, Daimler will initiate the first small series production run of fuel-cell vehicles with the launch of the Mercedes-Benz B-class F-CELL.