Mercedes-Benz eEconic Refuels Airplanes in Stuttgart

Mercedes-Benz Special Trucks has delivered an all-electric refueling vehicle based on the Mercedes-Benz eEconic to Skytanking, a refueling service provider at Stuttgart Airport. The vehicle is equipped with electrically operated 40,000-liter refueling technology by Esterer, which draws energy for driving the pump directly from the vehicle's batteries. 

It is the first refueling vehicle based on an electric series production vehicle from Daimler Truck and the first fully electric refueling vehicle in this class at Stuttgart Airport. 

The all-electric drive reduces noise and heat generation and emits neither CO2 nor particulate matter, making it beneficial for employees in the direct vicinity of the vehicles. 

The all-electric Mercedes-Benz eEconic is a low-floor truck with a total height of less than 2.80 meters, making it easy to pass underneath the wings of an aircraft. This allows the crew to stay directly under the aircraft tank, which is located within the wing body, when refueling under the wing. 

The low panoramic window of the “DirectVision” cab and the low seat position give the driver a wide viewing angle during approach, providing excellent visibility among the various traffic participants on the apron. 

With this cab design and numerous familiar safety features, the refueling vehicle, which is 18.50 meters in length, can also be deployed amidst the people and machinery on the apron. Intelligent safety assistance systems such as the fifth-generation Active Brake Assist emergency braking assistant, and a sensor installed in the side collision protection at the level of the battery packs, are also installed.

The electric truck has an electric axle with an integrated drive unit, as well as two electric motors that generate 330 kW of continuous power. When braking, electrical energy can be recovered through recuperation and fed back into the batteries, which increases the operational time of the refueling vehicle, especially during stop-and-go operation while driving and refueling. 

The battery packs of the eEconic can be charged at up to 160 kW. The pump in the tank body also draws its electrical energy directly from the vehicle batteries, so a single charging process will ensure the energy supply of the vehicle and body, simplifying logistics compared to older vehicle concepts that required separate diesel charging.

The Esterer tank body, with its capacity of 40,000 liters, can refuel a wide range of aircraft. It draws directly on the electrical energy of the batteries that also power the vehicle. This concept of direct actuation of the pump is unique for use in aircraft refueling. For actual operations at Stuttgart Airport, this means: For one day at least, an hour of charging.