After R$ 100 Million Investment, Mercedes-Benz Will Produce Electric Buses in Brazil

Mercedes-Benz Will Produce Brazil’s First Electric Bus After an Investment of R$ 100 Million

On this Wednesday (25), Mercedes-Benz presented its first step towards electrification. The automaker is developing and investing in chassis for electric buses so that they can be put into circulation in urban centers in Brazil, as well as in neighboring markets on the continent where the company intends to export the technology.

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Mercedes-Benz Invests R$ 100 Million in Brazil

This step is the result of a R$ 100 million investment by Mercedes-Benz, which is part of the company’s R$ 2.4 billion cycle in the country from 2018 to 2022.

The electric bus project is being developed by teams at the São Bernardo do Campo plant, with support from engineers at Daimler, the owner of Mercedes-Benz, in Germany, where prototypes of the electric buses are already being tested.

The plan is for the product to be sold starting next year. According to Karl Deppen, president of Mercedes-Benz’s Brazilian operation, during the announcement, the speed of adopting new technologies in the country depends on investments in infrastructure such as charging stations for electric batteries.

Words from the President of the New Electric Buses Operation

According to Deppen, for the advantages of technological investments applied to urban mobility to be aggregated to the economic and social development of cities, it is of utmost importance that Brazil and America also invest in their charging stations for the activities of electric buses.

According to Roberto Leoncini, Mercedes-Benz’s Vice President of Sales and Marketing, Mercedes chose to electrify the buses first because public transport vehicles have fewer restrictions than trucks, where there is a lack of a network of charging points across the country, making the use of the technology unfeasible over longer distances.

Roberto also adds that the battery of the electric bus to be launched by the automaker allows the vehicle to travel 250 kilometers on a single charge. The company opted for urban buses because they have a greater impact on society than electric trucks, which have a series of other factors to be resolved. The executive states that electric trucks are something that will come in the future, in due time.

Mercedes-Benz Sells Its Factory in SP

This month, Mercedes sold its factory in Iracemápolis (SP) to the Chinese Great Wall Motors. At the factory, the Class C and GLA models were produced until last year.

In addition, the deal also includes the land of 1.2 million m² and all production equipment and buildings of the German company. The factory’s production capacity is 20,000 cars per year up to the time of its closure, but GWM claims it will expand the factory’s capacity to 100,000 vehicles annually.

According to Jörge Burzer, a Member of the Board of Directors of Mercedes-Benz, with the company’s transition and the realignment of car production capacity in the global network, Mercedes is sustainably increasing its production efficiency. According to the executive, the sale to GWM brought a buyer who will create a new perspective for the future of the Brazilian automotive industry.