GERMANY Daimler Buses is planning further growth in the e-mobility sector, including beyond vehicles and infrastructure. The company is introducing new services to extend the useful life of electrically powered buses, and is now offering its customers the remanufacturing of electric bus batteries. In addition, the manufacturer is expanding its range in 2026 to include a latest-generation battery replacement with a longer range. Daimler Buses says it wants to enable the longest possible useful life for its electrified vehicles – as with diesel buses. The two offers are part of an e-service offensive that looks at the entire life cycle and profitability of e-buses and batteries.
The company says it is initially offering the new services for the electrically powered Mercedes-Benz eCitaro city bus, with the eIntouro inter-city bus to follow in the future. CEO of Daimler Buses Till Oberwörder said: “The future of buses is clearly electric. In addition to the high demand for our electrified buses and our range of services for developing turnkey e-infrastructure, we see great potential in the field of e services – and we want to exploit this potential. Our customers should be able to use electric buses as economically and for as long as conventionally powered vehicles. This makes us pioneers in the industry. Our first-generation Mercedes-Benz eCitaro buses are still in successful use today. The new e-services will help to ensure that this remains the case for many years to come. This sends a clear message: e-buses are here to stay.”
Through the remanufacturing and replacement of batteries, Daimler Buses says it aims to ensure long-term and sustainable use of vehicles. The manufacturer is now remanufacturing first-generation NMC1 batteries to significantly increase the capacity and therefore the electric range of the buses.
In the future, the company says its ‘reworked’ range will also be extended to NMC2 and NMC3 batteries. In addition, Daimler says it will also replace batteries of all predecessor generations (NMC1 to NMC3) from 2026 onwards, depending on the customer’s planned duration of use, with the latest NMC4 models. Depending on the vehicle configuration and the original battery generation, the company says that it is possible that fewer batteries will be required to achieve the same or higher total capacity using new NMC4 batteries.
Daimler also plans to offer warranties of up to 12 years with the introduction of its new NMC4 batteries in 2026.
