Mercedes-Benz eVito Tourer debuts on Berlin’s on-demand transport service BerlKönig

Since autumn 2018, BerlKönig’s on-demand public transport offering has already taken to the streets of Berlin where it supplements the regular-service public transport routes with an innovative mobility service.

Operated by BVG and ViaVan, 700,000 passengers have already been transported comfortably and rapidly to their destinations and the aim is that more and more electric vehicles will join the fleet in future: 19 Mercedes-Benz eVito Tourer are now strengthening the BerlKönig offering.

These vehicles are the first vehicles to have been deployed in real customer operations. By 2025, all ViaVan locations will be served by electrically powered vehicles. ViaVan's services are available in Amsterdam, London and Milton Keynes, as well as in Berlin where they are operated in a collaboration between the BVG public transport company and BerlKönig.

The overall aim and central component of the concept is to provide sustainable mobility. On the one hand, this will be achieved by means of ride sharing: BerlKönig seeks to use and fill their vehicles as efficiently as possible. An intelligent algorithm bundles together several journey requests heading in the same direction, then creates a route and books the passengers in a joint vehicle. And on the other hand, it will be facilitated by means of a fleet comprising a high percentage of electric vehicles: from the outset, BerlKönig has been operating electrically powered vehicles in the form of the B-Class Electric Drive.

Locally emission-free driving and low noise emissions are coupled with great comfort for passengers - the eVito Tourer is tailor-made for transporting people in inner cities. With the installed battery capacity of 41 kWh, the vehicle offers a total range of between 156 and 186 kilometres. After a charging time of six hours, the entire range is again available for use. The battery-electric drive system delivers an output of 85 kW and up to 295 Newton metres of torque.

The positioning of the battery in the underbody of the eVito Tourer creates a generously spacious interior without any restrictions, and thus allows as many as eight seats in addition to that of the driver to be fitted. The mid-size van can be ordered with one of two different wheelbases. The basic variant has a total length of 5140 millimetres. Meanwhile, the extra-long version measures 5370 millimetres.

Depending on the number of passengers and the desired level of comfort, the eVito Tourer offers special and flexible solutions for the demanding task of transporting people. The preconfigured seating for the passenger compartment can be tailored to individual requirements by selecting from the numerous seating variants. The maximum permissible gross weight stands at 3200 kilogrammes.

“As part of Mercedes-Benz Vans developing into a provider of holistic mobility services, we're especially happy that our eVito Tourer is currently being put to use for the first time ever within the scope of BerlKönig's innovative service. We are therefore combining two future-oriented topics which are of great importance to us: on-demand transport and electromobility. We shall also continue to drive forward the electrification of ViaVan,” said Steven Kasih, Manager of Shared People Mobility at Mercedes-Benz Vans. BerlKönig is the world's biggest provider of on-demand shuttles offered by a public transport company.

The know-how behind the BerlKönig service offering comes from ViaVan, a joint venture between Mercedes-Benz Vans and Via Inc. ViaVan is a leading provider of innovative on-demand public transport services in Europe. Through close collaboration with cities and public transport companies, ViaVan provides dynamic mobility services which supplement and strengthen existing public transport networks.

Valerie von der Tann, General Manager at ViaVan Berlin: “The integration of the world's first eVito Tourers in our fleet is a further step towards our goal of co-operating with towns and public transport providers in order to make urban mobility more sustainable. We're glad that today already over half of our fleet in Berlin runs on electrical power. By the end of 2020 we want to see our entire fleet in Berlin equipped with electric drives.”

The ViaVan co-operation is a further milestone in implementing the Mercedes-Benz Vans adVANce future-oriented strategy. Focus within this project is on moving away from being solely a vehicle manufacturer towards becoming a provider of holistic van mobility solutions.