Mercedes eIntouro is undergoing winter testing at the Artic Circle

The Mercedes eIntouro, unveiled in late 2024 and set for deployment by 2026, is currently being winter tested in Rovaniemi, Finland, at the Arctic Circle, with temperatures down to minus 30 degrees. The bus will be presented at Busworld 2025. Its launch marks the debut of Daimler Buses in the nascent intercity electric bus market.

All new bus types from Daimler Buses undergo an extensive test routine before the start of series production, which includes safety tests and load tests as well as driver tests under extreme heat and in extreme cold, the group points out.

Mercedes eIntouro tested at the Arctic Circle

During the trip to Finland, the engineers closely examined all the functions and systems of the two eIntouro in practice. For example, “the coordination of the drive control and the central drive module were also part of the team’s tasks, as was the gearshift coordination of the three-speed transmission integrated into the central drive module and the optimisation of the brake management, in which the recuperation of the electric motor plays a decisive role”, still quoting Daimler Truck’s words.

What is also interesting, test engineers from Daimler Buses drove the eIntouros the 3,000-kilometre route from Neu-Ulm to Finland and back again on their own wheels. They only used publicly available charging infrastructure for recharging. The quick-charging capability of the batteries enabled short charging breaks and a swift continuation of the journey.

On site in Rovaniemi, the experts paid particular attention to the behaviour of the batteries and the electric drivetrain of the eIntouro in adverse weather conditions. For this purpose, they checked, among other things, the cold-starting characteristics, the charging capability of the high-voltage system at extremely low temperatures, and the cold protection of the drive components, software and interfaces. In addition, the thermal and energy management systems were tested intensively.

Interestingly enough, the eIntouro is equipped with a different set of battery and driveline than the eCitaro range, made of LFP batteries and central motor by ZF. It’ll be produced in the OEM’s plants in Turkey and in France.

Two lengths are available: the 12.18-metre eIntouro and the 13.09-metre eIntouro M. Seating variants from 50 to a maximum of 63 seats are covered.

Martin Teigeler, Head of Product Engineering Daimler Buses: “Our extensive tests on the behaviour of the batteries and the electric drivetrain at extreme sub-zero temperatures, and on the handling characteristics of the vehicles on polished icy roads or in slush did not simply yield important findings for further optimisation. They also showed that the battery-electric eIntouro is fully operational even in winter conditions.”