Shaping the future of transport on a sustainable basis is more than just an economic or technical challenge for Daimler and its well-known brands as the world's leading commercial vehicle manufacturer – it is a social responsibility. "Shaping Future Transportation" is the name of an initiative that takes a comprehensive approach to place the focus on both environmental aspects and safety. At the 2008 International Commercial Vehicle Show in Hanover, Daimler is presenting some of the results of this initiative at the entrance to Hall 14/15 and illustrating its road towards the environmentally clean commercial vehicle of tomorrow on the exhibition site in Hanover. By means of numerous display vehicles and exhibits, the individual brands and business units are demonstrating that Daimler remains true to the goal of this initiative: Shaping Future Transportation. Three concepts are also celebrating their debut at the 2008 International Commercial Vehicle Show in Hanover: the Mercedes-Benz Econic BlueTec Hybrid as a near-series study, the natural gas powered Mercedes-Benz Econic NGT Hybrid as a concept study and the Mercedes-Benz Axor BlueTec Hybrid as a concept prototype.

Daimler AG continues to place the highest priority on the drastic reduction of fuel consumption, CO2 emissions and exhaust emissions in commercial vehicles, as part of the Shaping Future Transportation initiative which commenced at the end of last year.

BlueTec diesel technology, which is already proving its effectiveness in more than 200,000 Mercedes-Benz trucks and 11,000 Mercedes-Benz and Setra buses and coaches, emphatically demonstrates the fuel-saving potential of conventional diesel engines. More than 90 percent of these vehicles already meet the EU's Euro 5 exhaust emission standard coming into force from autumn 2009. Compared to conventional Euro 3 engines, BlueTec-equipped vehicles have so far saved their operators the expenditure for around 700 million litres of diesel fuel, while sparing the environment two million tonnes of CO2 emissions. BlueTec vehicles consume between two and five percent less fuel than Euro 3 vehicles, and emit corres­pondingly less CO2. At the same time their exhaust gases contain at least 80 percent fewer particulates and up to 60 percent lower nitrogen oxide levels.

The development work also continues apace where vans are concerned. The automatic start-stop function, which is available as an option for the Sprinter, allows significant fuel savings of between five and eight percent in city traffic and pays for itself within just a few months. At the International Commercial Vehicle Show, the potential of diesel-powered vans is shown by the Vito BlueEFFICIENCY showcar. This vehicle has a wealth of fuel-saving technolo­gies, and many of these features are already due to become available soon.

A key role on the road to the drive systems of tomorrow is played by hybrid technologies, which appear capable of reducing diesel fuel consumption by up to one third depending on the type of operation. This is indicated by the experience in the USA and Japan, where buses and trucks produced by the Daimler brands Orion, Freightliner and Fuso are in customer operation in large numbers.

With around 1 600 Orion hybrid buses on the roads of North America, more than 160 Freightliner trucks and 350 light trucks and Fuso buses, Daimler is the world market leader for hybrid drive systems in the commercial vehicle sector. And the numbers are constantly increasing: an entire fleet of Sprinter Plug-In Hybrid vans is currently entering customer trials in North America. Including natural-gas-powered Mercedes-Benz trucks, buses and vans in Europe, the total number of commercial vehicles with alternative drive concepts delivered to customers for day-to-day operations is well over 7 000.

Alternative drive technologies from Daimler Trucks and Daimler Buses are now due to enter customer operations in further product segments and regions. In North America, Freightliner will be delivering 1 500 M2 hybrid trucks to customers over the next three years, and producing hybrid versions of the legendary school buses by Thomas Built Buses. In Japan the second hybrid bus generation is already on the market in the form of the Fuso Aero Star Eco Hybrid. In Germany the first examples of the Mercedes-Benz Atego BlueTec Hybrid and Mitsubishi Fuso Canter Eco Hybrid distribution trucks have entered pilot operations with customers this year. In August, Europe's largest fleet trials of hybrid trucks began in London with ten Fuso Canter Eco Hybrids. The Sprinter Hybrid is being delivered to customers in both North America and Europe.

In the short-range public transport sector, the articulated Mercedes-Benz Citaro G BlueTec Hybrid bus is entering customer trials at the end of this year. This new vehicle concept already marks a technological turning-point on the way to the Zero Emission Vehicle.

A lower fuel consumption for trucks and buses with hybrid drive systems also leads to a reduction in exhaust pollutants, especially in the case of the much-debated CO2. In parallel with alternative drive ­technologies, the use of alternative fuels is also being researched in order to conserve resources of fossil fuels and reduce atmospheric pollution.

Daimler AG has been actively involved in the development and testing of biofuels for many years. Second-generation biofuels offer particular advantages: they can be produced from various forms of biomass, have a CO2 reduction potential of up to 90 percent and do not stand in direct competition with plants grown for food production. One example of such a biofuel is SunDiesel, which is being developed and produced by Daimler in cooperation with Choren.

Around 1 700 natural-gas-powered Mercedes-Benz buses and municipal vehicles from the Mer­cedes-Benz Econic series (CNG/NGT) have been in customer use for the last seven years. Development is progressing at a rapid pace for natural gas power: the new Mercedes-Benz Sprinter NGT has performed excellently in customer trials, and also entered series production recently. Around 1100 of these vehicles are now on the road. For this purpose Mer­cedes-Benz has expanded the Center of Competence for emission-free commercial vehicles (KEN) at the Mannheim plant into a Center of Competence for natural-gas drive systems.

Thanks to continuous further development over the years, Daimler diesel engines have become high-tech power units that will continue to be developed further as the backbone of commercial-vehicle drive systems for many years to come. They show their great potential through constantly reduced emissions and increasing energy yields. Over several development stages, particulate and nitrogen oxide emissions have been reduced by an average of well over 90 percent since 1990 alone. Mercedes-Benz trucks and buses with the latest BlueTec diesel ­technology combine these ecological advances with economic benefits for the vehicle operator. This is because compared to other emission control technologies, fuel consumption has been drastically lowered even further, producing a saving of around 2 000 litres per year for a long-distance truck, for example. This corres­ponds to a good five tonnes less CO2 over the same period for a single long-distance truck.

Compared to other vehicle types and in terms of fuel consumption per 100 km per tonne of cargo, the "one-litre vehicle" has long been a reality in the truck sector.

This was recently demonstrated by a series-production example of the new Mercedes-Benz Actros, which showed its outstanding performance and economy by establishing a world record. In Nardo, southern Italy, a 40-tonne semitrailer combination covered a distance of just under 13,000 kilometres in seven days, with a fuel consumption of only 19.44 litres per 100 km under test conditions – a world record. In the case of a 25-tonne cargo this represents a fuel consumption of only 0.8 litres per 100 km per tonne, and in other words only 20.5 grammes of CO2 emissions per tonne of payload and kilometre – a fraction of that achieved by current passenger cars with hybrid drive. Accordingly the truck has entered the Guinness Book of Records as "the most fuel-efficient 40-tonne truck".

Until zero-emission fuel-cell drive systems are economically viable, further significant advances in fuel economy are only conceivable with the use of hybrid technologies. Two different drive systems are used in hybrid vehicles. The energy released during braking is recuperated in the form of electrical energy, stored in batteries and used to power an electric motor. Thanks to this additional drive unit, a smaller and lighter diesel engine can be used to obtain the same overall performance.

For trucks Daimler has decided in favour of the so-called "parallel" hybrid. In this case the electric motor is integrated into the drive train, and usually contributes its output in parallel with the diesel engine. The hybrid buses produced by the Daimler brands Orion, Fuso and Mercedes-Benz employ what is known as serial hybrid drive. In this case a generator directly connected to the diesel engine supplies the energy to the electric drive motors.

In the hybrid buses from Fuso and the new Mercedes-Benz hybrid bus all the peripheral units are also electrically powered, therefore the bus is able to cover limited stretches under electrical power only, i.e. with zero emissions. The innovative concept of the Mercedes-Benz Citaro G BlueTec Hybrid, which features wheel hub motors, marks a technological transition towards the Zero Emission Vehicle. When the time comes to develop this future vehicle generation, it is basically only the diesel generator that will need replacing with fuel cells, as the electric drive compo­nents are already tried and tested.

The day-to-day practicality of fuel-cell-powered vehicles has been demonstrated by the world's largest customer trials, involving more than 36 buses based on the Mercedes-Benz Citaro in service with public transport operators. These vehicles have covered a total mileage of more than two million kilometres, and absolved more than 125,000 operating hours. In order to achieve a broad-based use of zero-emission technology in other commercial vehicles it is still necessary to improve the operating life and performance of fuel cells considerably, as well as drastically reducing the overall costs. This will continue to be a major challenge for the develop­ment engineers. Moreover, the necessary hydrogen supply infrastructure is not as yet in place. At present fuel-cell-powered Mercedes-Benz Citaro buses are undergoing long-term practical trials in Hamburg and London, as well as in Iceland.

Given that the procurement costs for hybrid vehicles are around one third higher than for conventional diesel vehicles, economic aspects will be the deciding factor for the acceptance of alternative drive systems among operators in both the passenger and goods transport sectors.

Thanks to the achievable fuel savings, hybrid tech­nology has come considerably closer to overall cost-effectiveness over the vehicle's operating life. At least in the early years, a general introduction in vehicle fleets will, however, require subsidies, for example on the part of governments and municipalities. The success of alter­native drive technologies thanks to public subsidies in the USA and Japan confirms this.

Fleet operators in Europe still lack the benefit of such a decision-making basis as yet. The subsidy scheme for the use of hybrid-drive buses in city traffic recently announced by the German government is a first incentive for the necessary rethinking on the part of vehicle operators.

Along with environmental protection, the focus of Daimler AG and its commercial vehicle brands is also on safety, with the ambitious vision of accident-free driving. The company's commercial vehicles are known to be innovative leaders where safety is concerned.

With the emergency braking aid Active Brake Assist (ABA), Daimler Buses leads the field among premium touring coaches with the Mercedes-Benz Travego and Setra TopClass 400. No other coaches in the world are currently able to offer this emergency braking aid. If there is an acute danger of a rear-end collision with a slower-moving vehicle ahead, the patented system automatically initiates emergency braking after a series of warnings, thereby having the potential to save lives.

Active Brake Assist celebrated its debut in the Mercedes-Benz Actros two years ago. Mercedes-Benz continues to be the only manufacturer offering trucks with an emergency braking system. While this is not always able to prevent accidents, the automatic initiation of emergency braking when acute danger threatens can substantially mitigate the consequences.

Safety experts are convinced that Active Brake Assist helps to prevent rear-end collisions, thereby helping to save lives. Along with other safety systems it has long proved its worth in practice. The positive effects of safety systems have been shown by a large-scale fleet test, involving 1 000 Mercedes-Benz Actros semitrailer tractors, and the findings from comprehensive analyses of real accidents. Around half of all serious truck accidents on motorways are preventable. 50 percent of the trucks in the test were equipped with a safety package consisting of the lane assistant, proximity cruise control and stability control. The result was that compared to conventionally equipped semitrailer tractors, the number of serious accidents was halved for the vehicles with this safety package. And in cases where an accident did occur, the financial damage was an average of 90 percent less severe. These results were based on a monitoring period of twelve months and a total mileage of 106 million kilometres.

Mercedes-Benz is actively furthering the introduction of safety systems: both for the Actros and the Axor, the company has already put together attractive safety packages that have a noticeably positive effect on the buying decision. At the same time, negotiations with the insurance sector in Germany have led to the first premium discounts for trucks and buses equipped with particularly extensive safety systems.

The ongoing safety initiative by Mercedes-Benz and Setra in Europe already began in the mid-nineties, with the introduction of the Electronic Braking System (EBS) and disc brakes all round for all new truck and bus model series.

Up-to-date assistance systems were then gradually introduced for the trucks, buses and vans – the majority as a market first. The Electronic Stability Program (ESP) has been standard equipment for all newly launched Mercedes-Benz touring coaches and vans for many years. In the case of vans, adaptive ESP even recognises the vehicle's centre of gravity and therefore the load parameters.

The Lane Assistant, DISTRONIC and stability control are available for the heavy Actros and Axor truck series. The Mercedes-Benz Travego and Setra TopClass 400 touring coaches are also available with the Lane Assistant, and they include the Continuous Braking Limiter which prevents unwanted acceleration on gradients. The development progress in safety technologies was impressively demonstrated with the Safety Truck, Safety Coach and Safety Van fleet presented Europe-wide in 2006.

Active safety has a long tradition in the company: in the early eighties Mercedes-Benz and Setra already led the field when the anti-lock braking system (ABS) followed by acceleration skid control (ASR) were introduced. The same applies to the early introduction of driver training courses and safety training, for even the most sophisticated technology can only provide assistance – the responsibility continues to rest with the driver.

Drivers benefit from the best possible support during their working day thanks to ergonomically perfected, driver-oriented cockpits, first-class mirror systems and the drive train itself. Trucks, buses and vans from Mercedes-Benz and Setra are traditionally particularly easy to operate. As early as the mid-eighties, Mercedes-Benz was the first manufacturer to offer semi-automated and later fully automated transmissions in its trucks and buses. The standard features of the new Actros include the fully automated Mercedes PowerShift 2 transmission. The new, auto­mated GO 240-8 PowerShift eight-speed transmission has now been introduced for the premium Mercedes-Benz Travego and Setra TopClass 400 touring coaches as the only specialist bus transmission in this class.

The company’s commercial vehicle brands are also the leaders in passive safety. Mercedes-Benz conducted rollover tests on buses and coaches in the 1950s, for example. The protection of other road users also plays a major role in all these developments. A collision between a passenger car and a commercial vehicle must not be wholly at the expense of the car.

The Front Collision Guard (FCG) shows how the two can be combined. This new and unique passive safety system for the protection of the driver and co-driver/courier during a frontal collision is included as standard in the new-generation Mercedes-Benz Travego and Setra TopClass 400 touring coaches. This complex, patented technology begins with a transverse section which acts as an underride guard. The structure behind this section consists of impact-absorbing elements that dissipate energy in a controlled manner in the event of a collision. In addition, the cockpit including the steering, pedal cluster and seat is now mounted on a solid subframe which can move to the rear as a complete unit during a frontal impact, thereby increasing the space for the driver by several crucial centimetres. The developers not only established the effects of the Front Collision Guard on a calculatory basis, but also verified them during crash tests to be sure.

Although safety levels can vary greatly in the individual markets and regions, the development of new safety systems by Daimler AG’s commercial vehicle brands knows no national frontiers. In the early summer of this year Fuso presented a new Safety Truck based on its Super Great heavy-duty truck, for example. And the Mitsubishi Fuso ECO-D study being presented at the 2008 International Commercial Vehicle Show in Hanover illustrates important and innovative safety features for light-duty trucks.