Mechanical Technology October 2016

⎪ Innovative engineering ⎪

both stop-start portions of the journey as well as road elevation data. Needless to say, the infotainment, comfort and safety levels are faultless. The vehicle has Airmatic air suspen- sion as standard with electronically regulated continuously variable damper adjustment; Attention Assist, which can warn of inattentiveness and fatigue; and Collision Prevention Assist Plus, which protects against collision at speeds of over 7.0 km/h and, if the danger remains and the driver fails to react, undertakes autonomous braking at speeds of up to 200 km/h. The price? R804 900 – but the C350e is exempt from CO 2 emission tax and comes with a six-year/100 000 km PremiumDrive maintenance plan. “With a total investment of around R100- million in our Mercedes-Benz East Lon- don plant, the Hybrid project comprised of more than 500 new purchase parts, of which 200 were local, including signifi- cant changes to the bumpers and wiring harnesses,” says Florian Seidler, Co-CEO of Mercedes-Benz South Africa and ex- ecutive director of Mercedes-Benz Cars. “This investment further demonstrates the company’s commitment to the advancement of technology and skills development in the country,” he adds. Following the celebration in May 2015 of the millionth vehicle produced, the successful manufacture of the first C350e sedan at the award-winning Mercedes-Benz East London plant is another milestone in the company’s il- lustrious 68-year history. Logistics division’s project man- agement specialist, Liebrecht Otto, confirmed that all employees and con- tractors involved with the manufacture of these hybrid units were specifically trained to safely work with high voltage components. “Instructors from TÜV SÜD, an international service corporation focus- ing on consulting, testing, certification and training, were brought in to the plant to ensure that we met the highest international safety standards. We have now set the benchmark in South Africa for safety, as we do for quality. From a facility perspective, to accommodate some of the additional work content, we installed a new Lifter and High Station in the Assembly area. Additionally, we Proudly manufactured in South Africa

The Intelligent Hybrid operating strategy ensures that lithium-ion battery can take maximum advantage of recuperation opportunities provided by the route.

Radar based recuperation adjusts battery regeneration based on traffic conditions, coasting in free flowing traffic and immediately decelerating when it detects decreasing following distances.

sumption by providing feedback via pedal resistance. Neither of us could feel this resistance, but we later determined that we were in the wrong mode, it is only ac- tive in electric mode or in economy mode, when the Eco Assist function is active. How does it work? When driving in electric mode, the driver’s foot meets a point of resistance on the accelerator pedal when maximum all-electric per- formance is reached. Pushing through that resistance is like clicking ‘Yes’ to the question: “Do you want the combustion engine to kick in?” We were in Sports mode, so we were not asked this ques- tion. It would have been annoying. A double impulse signal is also incor- porated, which tells the driver to lift off

the accelerator pedal to switch off and decouple the combustion engine from the drive train. This allows the C350e’s engine management system to automati- cally decelerate using data from the car’s radar systems. We did notice some of this when our following distance decreased coming into a queue. In support of anticipatory driving, the best strategy for efficiency, Mercedes has also enabled the navigation system to be connected to the engine manage- ment system. When an exact destination and route is entered into the navigation system, charge and discharge of the C350e’s high-voltage battery is con- trolled to ensure the optimal use of energy over the whole route – taking into account

32

Mechanical Technology — October 2016