The new mobility needs of the world we live in have significantly impacted the types of vehicles we have seen recently. From personal transportation devices to last-mile solutions for transporting cargo and people, these vehicles have the potential to forever change the way we move ourselves and our products. And that attracts a lot of attention from companies in this business, including the mighty Mercedes-Benz.
The German automaker is a major player in the cargo transport market, selling a series of vans that are used all over the world: Sprinter, Vito and Citan. They’ve been around for ages, it seems, and are reliable and much more affordable than a passenger Merc, but they still need upgrades from time to time.
Knowing that the transport needs of the future will be completely different from those of today, and with a greater focus on ecological operations, Mercedes launched in 2021 a special version of the transport. eSprinter (the electric variant of the world famous van) called SUSTAINEER.
It is a contraction of the words Sustainability Pioneer, and we are talking, in essence, about a technology demonstrator intended to prove. “innovations and technical solutions” which can make it into production in the near future.
SUSTAINEER has been in the news several times since its introduction, and it will do so again, but not because of a new feature that has been gifted. What brings the van under the spotlight is a new cargo bike that is intended to help with last mile delivery.
The idea behind this cargo bike sidekick is pretty simple. The eSprinter is meant to do what it always does, transport goods. However, instead of taking the goods right to the door of those who need them, making multiple and very long trips, it can meet with a fleet of cargo bikes on the road, transfer the goods, and leave the final delivery to the front door of two-wheelers.
Mercedes he didn’t imagine this on an intellectual level alone, and even teamed up with a Berlin-based bicycle manufacturer called Onomotion to demonstrate the concept.
Onomotion currently produces two versions of a bike it calls Ono, namely Cargo and Allround. Naturally, it is the Cargo version that we will focus on because it is the one that Mercedes uses to advance its ideas related to delivery.
The Ono Cargo is an electric bike that features a weather-resistant cabin at the front, to hold and protect the rider, and a container at the back where the goods are stored. Each container has a capacity of two cubic meters (71 cubic feet) and can support 200 kg (441 pounds) of cargo.
The bike is powered by a 1.4 kWh Interchangeable battery that gives it a range of 25 km (16 miles), and has an additional pack on board for daily operations. The batteries can be charged from a standard plug.
The way it should work in conjunction with the eSprinter is quite simple. The Mercedes van is equipped with a lifting arm that has been specifically tweaked to lift the Ono containers. Two of them can be stored in the van (when configured as a long panel van with a high roof) and transferred on the bike in a matter of minutes, without any human hand needed to lift them (some to hold the transmitter that activates the arm, that is).
This means the eSprinter can load two cargo bikes at set points on the delivery route, and then move on to its next assignment. The bicycle, on the other hand, travels everywhere where goods need to be transported.
Photo: Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes sees a number of advantages to such an approach, and at first glance the arguments seem quite solid.
Using cargo bikes as a last-mile delivery solution it works in both urban areas, where busy roads can affect the ability of a van to reach a destination, but also in rural ones, where some distances could be better and longer effectively covered by bicycles. That, in turn, shortens the delivery time.
So, the concept is applicable to all types of shipments, from couriers to service providers. The van acts as a mobile micro-depot where the bikes are loaded from, meaning there will be less need for storage facilities and staff.
Mercedes-Benz doesn’t say how long it actually tested the concept, but on paper the thing looks solid enough to work. It is unclear at this point if the German company is actually planning some sort of partnership with Onomotion at this point.
This is not the first idea that Merc has tried on the SUSTAINEER, and some of them are already being considered for production. The list of such ideas includes hardware to combine heating and cooling in the cabin to reduce energy consumption, and a particulate filter integrated into the front module to target “Ingress of particles caused by the wear of tires, brakes and asphalt”.
