Bentley Announces the Finalists in 2016 Be Inspired Awards Program Recognizing Innovation in Infrastructure Design, Construction, and Operations

Winners Will Be Announced at The Year in Infrastructure 2016 Conference,

Nov. 1-3 in London

EXTON, Pa., U.S.A. – September 21, 2016 – Bentley Systems, Incorporated, a leading global provider of comprehensive software solutions for advancing infrastructure, today announced the project finalists in the 2016 Be Inspired Awards program. The annual awards honor the extraordinary work of Bentley users advancing infrastructure design, construction, and operations throughout the world. Ten independent jury panels comprising distinguished industry experts selected the 54 finalists from more than 300 nominations submitted by organizations in 80 countries.

The finalists will present their innovative projects in front of their peers, the jurors, and the more than 100 members of the media at The Year in Infrastructure 2016 Conference, taking place Nov. 1-3 in London, U.K. This global gathering of leading figures in the world of infrastructure design, construction, and operations will feature:

• a series of thought-provoking keynotes by Bentley senior management as well as guest speakers comprising prominent industry thought leaders;
• interactive, invitation-only summits where attendees will explore the intersection of technology and business drivers, and how they are shaping the future of infrastructure project delivery and asset performance;
• informative industry forums featuring speakers from prominent organizations including Microsoft, KPMG, AECOM, Shell, Applied Research & Associates, Atkins, and Black & Veatch;
• the announcement and celebration of the Be Inspired Award winners at an evening ceremony and gala on Nov. 2; and
• Special Recognition Winners’ presentations on Nov. 3.

The Year in Infrastructure 2016 Conference is an ideal opportunity for management-level executives in architecture firms, engineering firms, construction companies, and government or owner-operator organizations responsible for the design, delivery, and/or operations of infrastructure to share best practices and meet infrastructure professionals from around the world. All those who submitted a nomination in the Be Inspired Awards program are also encouraged to attend.

Bentley Systems Chief Communications Officer Chris Barron said, “The Year in Infrastructure Conference promises to be a one-of-a-kind networking and learning experience for infrastructure leaders from around the world. Presentations and industry forums will highlight industry best practices and provide valuable insights on BIM advancements and innovations in technology that are helping improve project delivery and asset performance. The Be Inspired award presentations will showcase the year’s most outstanding advancements in global infrastructure. The conference is in London – a city famous for its distinctive skyline and landmark structures, many of which were designed and built by leading AEC companies with the help of Bentley software. We look forward to welcoming the many senior executives from infrastructure organizations around the globe who will convene at the Hilton London Metropole.”

The Be Inspired Awards finalists for 2016 are as follows:

Innovation in Asset Performance

• Danfoss – Facility Optimization and Energy Management – (Nordborg, Denmark)
• Emerson Process Management – Integrated Operations Center – (Austin, Texas, United States)
• SKA South Africa – MeerKAT – (Carnarvon, Northern Cape, South Africa)

Innovation in Bridges

• Guizhou Transportation Planning Survey & Design Academy Co., Ltd. – Guizhou Ping-Luo Expressway Pingtang Bridge – (Qiannan, Guizhou, China)
• MCC TianGong Group, Tianjin Corporation, Ltd. – BIM Technology Application in Bageng Bridge Project of Guangxi Baijing Expressway – (Baise City, Guangxi Zhuang, China)
• Ministerio Obras Públicas de Chile – Chacao Bridge – (Island of Chiloe, Llanquihue, Chile)

Innovation in Building

• China Aerospace Construction Group Co., Ltd. – Inner Mongolia Ethnic Minorities Cultural Sports Center – (Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, China)
• Johnson Pilton Walker – 5 Martin Place – (Sydney, New South Wales, Australia)
• Morphosis – Hanking Center Tower – (Shenzhen, Guangdong, China)

Innovation in Construction

• GHD, Inc. – Ordot Dump Closure – (Ordot, Guam, United States)
• Insight-WFP – Houston Refinery – (Houston, Texas, United States)
• Shell Global Solutions International BV – Visibility into the Path of Construction for Prelude FLNG – (Goeje, South Korea)

Innovation in Government

• AECOM – Dholera SIR – (Dholera, Gujarat, India)
• Los Angeles Community College District – BuildLACCD – (Los Angeles, California, United States)
• Research and Design Institute for Urban Transportation “MosgortransNIIproekt” – Comprehensive Engineering Plan of the Road Infrastructure in Moscow – (Moscow, Russia)

Innovation in Land Development

• Beijing Shougang International Engineering Technology Co., Ltd. – Xishi Winter Olympics Square Project of Shougang Industrial Area Transformation – (Shijingshan, Beijing, China)
• Tract Consultants Pty., Ltd. – Phillip Island Penguin Viewing Platform – (Phillip Island, Victoria, Australia)
• Voyants Solutions Pvt., Ltd. – Feasibility Study and Associated Preliminary and Detail Designs in Secondary Cities and Agatare Informal Settlement – (Kigali, Nyarugenge, Rwanda)

Innovation in Manufacturing

• GEA Equipamentos e Soluções LTDA – Yeast Concentrate Evaporator – (São Paulo, Brazil)
• Tamco Switchgear Sdn. Bhd. (L&T Group of Companies) – Intelligent and Optimized Engineering of Control Systems – (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia)
• Unipar Carbocloro – Polishing System for Mercury Abatement Tower – (Cubatao, São Paulo, Brazil)

Innovation in Mining

• Hatch – Export Lump Screening Study – (Whyalla, South Australia, Australia)
• OJSC Magnitogorsky Gipromez – Plate Rolling Shop - Continuous Hot-dip Galvanizing Unit – (Magnitogorsk, Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia)
• Tetra Tech Proteus – Tanami Expansion Project – (Tanami Desert, Northern Territory, Australia)

Innovation in Offshore

• LLC Volgogradnefteproekt – Management of Engineering Data During the Filanovskiy Field Development – (Astrakhan, Astrakhan Region, Russia)
• Oil & Natural Gas Corporation, Ltd. – Re-qualification/Life Extension Study of Fixed Offshore Platform Structures – (Mumbai, Maharashtra, India)
• Seaway Heavy Lifting – DSO Sonam Topside Installation – (Lagos, Nigeria)

Innovation in Power Generation

• Black & Veatch – Sewaren 7 Combined Cycle Project – (Woodbridge, New Jersey, United States)
• East China Design & Research Institute Co., Ltd. of China Power Construction Group Corporation – Jinsha River Longkaikou Hydropower Station Project – (Dali Prefecture, Yunnan Province, China)
• Northwest Electric Power Design Institute Co., Ltd. of China Power Engineering Consulting Group – Fuping Thermal Power Plant Engineering of Shenhua Shendong Power – (Weinan, Shaanxi, China)

Innovation in Project Delivery

• AECOM – R Line – (Aurora, Colorado, United States)
• Black & Veatch – Business Transformation – (Overland Park, Kansas, United States)
• Mott MacDonald Bentley – Mott MacDonald Bentley Project – (United Kingdom)

Innovation in Rail and Transit

• Banedanmark – The New Line, Copenhagen-Ringsted – (Copenhagen, Capital Region, Denmark)
• FUT-Sweco/Typsa JV – Metro Extension in Stockholm – (Stockholm, Sweden)
• Mott MacDonald, Ltd. – Northern Line Extension – (London, England, United Kingdom)

Innovation in Reality Modeling

• CH2M Fairhurst Joint Venture – A9 Dualling Program – (Glengarry to Dalraddy, Scotland, United Kingdom)
• City of Helsinki – Helsinki 3D+ – (Helsinki, Finland)
• Kano Laboratory, Waseda University, Obayashi Corporation – Automated Recognition of Work Progress at a Construction Site – (Tokyo, Japan)

Innovation in Roads

• Beta 2 Engenharia – Roundabout of Ribeirão Preto – (Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo, Brazil)
• Costain Carillion Joint Venture – A5 - M1 Link, Dunstable Northern Bypass – (Dunstable, England, United Kingdom)
• Inspec Nederland BV – A27/A12 Ring Utrecht – (Utrecht, Utrecht, Netherlands)

Innovation in Structures

• Estaco S.A. – Oviedo Automatic Parking System – (Medellin, Antioquia, Colombia)
• RASANA Engineering Co., LLC – Nakheel Mall on Palm Jumeirah – (Palm Jumeirah, Dubai, United Arab Emirates)
• WSP Parsons Brinkerhoff – 22 Bishopsgate, London – (London, England, United Kingdom)

Innovation in Utilities and Communications

• Elia – Advanced Substation Design in a Managed Environment – (Brussels, Belgium)
• Hubei Electric Engineering Corporation – Miaoshan 220kV Secondary Transformer Substation – (Wuhan, Hubei, China)
• Snam – CARTESIO – Planning and Maintaining Nationwide Gas Transportation Network – (Milan, Italy)

Innovation in Water Network Analysis

• NJS Engineers India Pvt., Ltd. – JICA Assisted Ganga Action Plan – (Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India)
• Roy Hill Iron Ore – Water Supply and Dewatering Network Optimization – (Pilbara, Western Australia, Australia)
• Sabesp – Modeling in Crisis – (São Paulo, Brazil)

Innovation in Water Treatment Plants

• GE India Industrial Private Limited – RO#3 & ZLD System – (Tuticorin, Tamil Nadu, India)
• MWH UK – Woolston Water Treatment Works Redevelopment – (Southampton, England, United Kingdom)
• United Utilities – AMP6 - CDP – (Warrington, England, United Kingdom)

About The Be Inspired Awards Program and The Year in Infrastructure 2016 Conference

Since 2004, the Be Inspired Awards program has showcased excellence and innovation in the design, construction, and operations of infrastructure projects around the world. The Be Inspired Awards program is unique – the only competition of its kind that is global in scope and comprehensive in categories covered, encompassing all types of infrastructure projects. In the awards program, which is open to all users of Bentley software, independent panels of industry experts select finalists for each category. For additional information, visit www.bentley.com/BeInspired.

Bentley’s Year in Infrastructure 2016 Conference is a global gathering of leading executives in the world of infrastructure design, construction, and operations. The conference features a series of presentations and interactive workshops exploring the intersection of technology and business drivers, and how they are shaping the future of infrastructure project delivery and asset performance.

Bentley’s Year in Infrastructure 2016 Conference will include:

• The Project Delivery Summit (by invitation only)
• The Infrastructure Asset Performance Summit (by invitation only)
• The Building and Facilities Forum
• The Rail and Road Forum
• The Oil, Gas, and Chemical Forum

• The Utilities Forum
• The Visions for the Future Forum
• The Be Inspired Awards Ceremony

The Year in Infrastructure 2016 Conference Sponsors

• Platinum: Microsoft
• Gold: ARC Advisory Group, BNP Media, Civil + Structural Engineer, Construction Week, Engineering News-Record, Geospatial Media + Communications, Informed Infrastructure, New Civil Engineer, PennEnergy, Reliabilityweb.com, SPAR 3D

For more details and a complete list of sponsors, including Silver level, click here.

Media Day

On Oct. 31, more than 100 journalists from leading media outlets around the globe will gather at the Hilton London Metropole for Bentley’s annual Media Day briefing. These journalists will also participate in The Year in Infrastructure 2016 Conference.

For additional information about The Year in Infrastructure 2016 Conference or to register click here. Follow us on Twitter @bentleysystems and follow the news leading up to this event with this hashtag: #YII2016. Like Bentley on Facebook: http://facebook.com/bentleysystems

Buy or Build? Beware of these “Invisible” Costs of in-house Data Centres

By Sachin Bhardwaj, eHosting DataFort, Director, Marketing & Business Development

In today’s business environment within the large, medium and small enterprises there is an unprecedented growth of data. Coupled with increasing use of web services, mobile applications and the Internet of Things, businesses must create and manage an IT infrastructure that will tackle their computing, networking and storage capabilities to match their current and future requirements. This increases the need for additional storage and server infrastructure and in turn the need for more efficient data centres.

Companies can either choose to build, buy or look at data centre colocation. In building or buying data centres, technology advancements brings along its own set of complexities and challenges for businesses to architect and manage their IT infrastructure. They must make informed, analyzed and strategic decisions to either own or outsource their data centres to suit their individual needs.

Larger companies are financially capable of building their own data centres and are able to support them with 24/7 professional technical staff who maintain the infrastructure and monitor the data. They allocate large budgets to ensure that their data centres are powered and cooled efficiently to reap the benefits of the facility. Building a data centre has its advantages with the knowledge that the company has incorporated strict security guidelines and measures and also, that, they are in total control of their data.

Company growth has a direct impact on the rate of data growth and thereby pushes the capabilities of the data centres. Therefore organizations must be prepared to face the challenges of determining the right size of the data centre which has to meet the current needs but must also be able to address the future requirements. For example, should an organization foresee their data centre requirements over the next five years and build a suitable facility, in the first instance; initially the data centre will be over capacity with huge maintenance expenses. Over time, the facility will be outdated and will be unable to leverage the newer advancements for performance and energy consumption.  At the same time under-building the data centre can have a huge impact on the capital expenses if the capacity of the facility is used up sooner than planned.

In the case of smaller organizations, depending on the size of the company some may already have their solutions in place; other like start-ups may also have smaller facilities. However, in both cases, the cost for maintaining, scaling and securing their infrastructure is extremely high. They also need to take into account other expenses entailing qualified technical staff, ensured connectivity and put in place robust disaster recovery systems and processes.

Given this IT environment, more and more enterprises are now looking at collocate their data centres and stand to gain in many aspects. These include:

• Scalability – Depending on the growth phase of a business their data centre requirements need to match the needs. Data centre colocation enables a smooth transition to either upgrade or downsize the capabilities in a more flexible manner without the investment of sophisticated infrastructure and matches the most demanding IT scenarios.  
• Lowered total cost of ownership – When data centre colocation is part of the IT strategy it has a direct impact of the CAPEX due to the leasing of the facilities. It thereby lowers up-front costs, minimizes data centre staffing needs and comes with timely upkeep and upgrades of the equipment.
• Higher security levels – Data is crucial to businesses, and organizations are now spending more of their security needs. Data centre colocation provides 24/7 security in its physical environment with strict systems for physical access control. They also implement security solutions that offer visibility into the network to help in proactively mitigating cyber security risks.
• Professional teams for greater reliability - IT is becoming more complex and requires skilled teams to handle data centres. Experts who maintain and monitor the network at the collocated data centres ensure overall efficiencies making it a much more reliable proposition.
• Business continuity and disaster recovery (BC/DR) – The cost of IT downtime can be disastrous for businesses. It is therefore important for organizations to have a resilient BC/DR. Data centre colocation providers are capable of offering a higher level of availability in case of man-made or natural disasters compared to in-house facilities.

So irrespective of the size of an organization, data centres are form an integral part of the business to meet the growing need to have higher cost efficiencies, greater scalability and higher security. More importantly organizations need to focus on the core business objectives, and can gain tremendously by placing their requirements into the hands of data centre hosting services providers who are geared to bring about operational efficiencies .

Rotary announces US$35 Million to support a Polio-Free World

$8.15 million will go toward stemming the recent outbreak in Nigeria and countries in the Lake Chad Basin region

EVANSTON, Illinois, September 20, 2016/ -- Rotary (www.Rotary.org) today committed an additional $35 million in grants to support the global effort to end polio, bringing the humanitarian service organization’s contribution to $105 million in 2016. The announcement follows recent reports of three new cases of wild poliovirus in Nigeria: two cases in July, and one in August. The three cases are the first to be detected in Nigeria since July 2014. With these cases, funding for polio eradication is particularly vital as rapid response plans are now in action in Nigeria and surrounding countries to stop the outbreak quickly and prevent its spread. Rotary and its partners in the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) (http://www.PolioEradication.org) are acting to immunize children in Nigeria and countries in the Lake Chad Basin (Chad, northern Cameroon, southern Niger and the Central African Republic).  Nearly one-fourth of the funds Rotary announced today ($8.15 million) will support the emergency response campaigns in this at-risk region, and last month Rotary provided $500,000 to immediately assist with the outbreak response. While significant strides have been made against the paralyzing disease, with just 26 cases reported in 2016, polio remains a threat in hard-to-reach and underserved areas and conflict zones. "While we are disappointed with the recent news coming out of Nigeria, this situation underscores the extreme importance of widespread immunization campaigns and strong disease surveillance in all countries of the world until polio is fully eradicated," said Michael K. McGovern, chair of Rotary's International PolioPlus Committee. "This funding will help ensure that Rotary and our GPEI partners are doing all that we can to redouble our efforts and protect the progress in polio-free parts of the world, as well as stop transmission in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and now Nigeria." To sustain this progress, and protect all children from polio, experts say $1.5 billion is urgently needed. Without full funding and political commitment, this paralyzing disease could return to previously polio-free countries, putting children everywhere at risk. Rotary has contributed more than $1.6 billion and countless volunteer hours to fight polio. Through 2018, every dollar Rotary commits to polio eradication will be matched two-to-one by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation up to $35 million a year. Rotary launched its polio immunization program PolioPlus in 1985, and in 1988 became a spearheading partner in the Global Polio Eradication Initiative with the World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and was later joined by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Since the initiative launched, the incidence of polio has plummeted by more than 99.9 percent, from about 350,000 cases a year to 26 confirmed to date in 2016. In addition to supporting the response in the Lake Chad Basin region, funding has been allocated to support polio eradication efforts in Afghanistan ($5.55 million), Pakistan ($12.36 million), India ($875,000), Somalia ($1.77 million), South Sudan ($2.04 million), and the Democratic Republic of the Congo ($2 million). A final grant in the amount of $2.25 million will support key WHO staff.

Small & Medium Businesses in East Africa must create time to innovate

Technology, government support and mentoring programmes all offer potential ways to address this challenge

NAIROBI, Kenya, September 21, 2016/ -- Small & Medium Businesses in East Africa are resourceful and creative, yet many entrepreneurs lack the time and support they need to innovate in their businesses. Technology, government support and mentoring programmes all offer potential ways to address this challenge. That’s according to Billy Owino (https://twitter.com/OwinoBill), Regional Director East Africa (http://www.Sage.com/Africa), who says that many Kenyan entrepreneurs have great ideas but struggle to develop them into new business offerings and ventures. This parallels the challenge entrepreneurs face worldwide – Sage research shows that businesses worldwide rank development of new ideas as the most common area of neglect in their organisations. The problem stems from a lack of time, despite small business owners working over 40 hours a week, according to the Sage research(http://APO.af/45Ph1s). “We see the same challenge throughout East Africa,” Owino says, commenting on issues raised by the Innovation Africa Summit 2016 (http://Innovation-Africa.com/2016) in Kenya. Owino says that there are many promising shoots of innovative growth in East Africa – the challenge for government and the business community is to nurture them and ensure that innovative thinking spreads across the region. One focus should be on simplifying red-tape so that smaller businesses can focus their energies on customer service and new ideas rather than on admin and compliance. “It is pleasing to see that most East African governments are committed to simplifying the day to day basics of business red tape – like paying taxes, securing licences, processing imports and exports, or registering a business,” he adds. “But we should be looking at ways to make it even simpler to do business.” For their part, large companies can help by making their paperwork easy for smaller suppliers and paying promptly. Since broadband is an important enabler of innovation, governments and the telecoms industry should work together to build the necessary infrastructure. Rwanda offers a great example in this regard, with a government-led project to lay down a 4,500km fibre optic backbone. Likewise, the cooperation between Kenyan government (which is luring tech investors to Nairobi), the private sector and development-focused NGOs has helped to create Nairobi’s Silicon Savannah as hub of innovation and entrepreneurial energy. “Efficient and affordable internet access allows small businesses to innovate by creating new products, services and channels,” says Owino. “It also enables them to become more efficient.” Training and mentoring small business owners in leadership should be another priority, says Owino. “Many entrepreneurs have innovative ideas, but need help bringing them to life,” he adds. “They need strategic and operational support – help in the practicalities of commercialising a product, marketing it and supporting it.” Technology hubs and accelerators like iHub (http://iHub.co.ke) are doing a commendable job in supporting entrepreneurs in this regard, Owino says. NGOs like Educate! (http://www.ExperienceEducate.org) in Uganda are also helping by providing secondary school students with practical and entrepreneurial education. But much more could be done – for example, larger businesses and multinationals could mentor start-ups. Innovation should also be nurtured from a young age by encouraging school children to think in creative and entrepreneurial ways and by exposing them to the latest technologies. Governments should work closely with educational experts and other stakeholders to put innovation in the curriculum. In Kenya, for example, the Digital Literacy Programme (http://APO.af/sYzAA1) will distribute more than 12,000 digital devices to 150 primary schools in the pilot phase. Owino notes that entrepreneurs in East Africa can also clear time in their schedules for innovation by putting the right systems and processes in place. Mobile technology, cloud business applications and other tools can help small business owners to boost their productivity so that they have more time to focus on developing ideas, he adds. For example, payroll and accounting software streamline much of the financial administration business owners need to do. “As we have seen from successes like Ushahidi (www.Ushahidi.com), M-Farm (www.MFarm.co.ke) and M-Pesa (http://APO.af/FyxxTs), East Africa is taking its place on the world stage as place of innovation and opportunity. For our region, it comes naturally to leapfrog legacy technologies, find ways to work around infrastructure limitations, and reuse and combine old ideas into something new,” Owino says. “This is the work that East African entrepreneurs do every day as they power the economy. It is their entrepreneurial spirit that makes the difference and they deserve our support.”

Daimler Trucks presents Fuso eCanter and Mercedes-Benz Urban eTruck at 2016 IAA

• Daimler Trucks at the IAA 2016: Urban all-electric Trucks for the future
• World premiere: the all-electric and networked Mercedes-Benz Urban eTruck
• World premiere: the new all-electric Fuso eCanter

At this year's IAA International Commercial Vehicle Show in Hannover
(22 to 29 September 2016) the focus is on the megatrends of the future: digitalisation and e-mobility.

Mercedes-Benz Trucks is linking the two megatrends digitalisation and
e-mobility in the Urban eTruck. The vehicle is a spectacular vision of the networked and all-electric distribution truck of tomorrow. Fuso's eCanter
is the third generation of the world's first fully electric-powered light commercial vehicle and is the first small-scale production run of electric Fuso trucks.

World premiere: the all-electric and networked Mercedes-Benz Urban eTruck

• Electric truck with the performance of a diesel engine
• Innovative design with flowing lines

The Urban eTruck illustrates the fascinating possibilities of connectivity, electric drive systems, future display and control technologies, telematics, and a largely self-sufficient power supply. The Mercedes-Benz Urban eTruck defines the latest developments in all-electric vehicles in the heavy short-radius distribution sector. The triple-axle vehicle with a permissible gross weight of 26.0 t produces zero local emissions and runs silently, yet it is equal to a truck with an internal combustion engine in terms of load and performance, and, thanks to its innovative power supply, it is also economical.

Electric truck with the performance of a diesel engine

The Urban eTruck holds its own against similar internal combustion engine-powered trucks in every respect, even its weight. The additional weight stands at only 1700 kg. As the EU Commission is in favour of increasing the permissible gross vehicle weight of trucks with alternative drives by a maximum of 1.0 t, this will more or less cancel out the weight disadvantage of the electric drive.

The outstanding features of the Urban eTruck include its drive with electrically powered rear axle and electric motors directly adjacent to the wheel hubs. Their maximum output is 2 x 125 kW, while torque is 2 x 500 Nm. The standard version of the axle has already proven itself in buses.

The battery capacity of the Urban eTruck has a modular design. The basic arrangement is a battery pack consisting of lithium-ion batteries with a total capacity of 212 kWh. This results in a range of up to 200 km – normally enough for a typical day's delivery round.

Innovative design with flowing lines

The styling of the Urban eTruck is as innovative as its electric drive. It embodies the design philosophy of the Mercedes-Benz brand, which focuses on sensual purity – an expression that applies perfectly to the Urban eTruck. The contours of the driver's cab are sleek and fluid with minimal detailing and no visible joints.

Across the roof, a three-dimensional spoiler connects the cab with the body of the truck. It has a wide vent at the front, which acts as the air inlet for the cooling unit concealed behind the spoiler, as used in the food industry, for example. Just like the roof spoiler, the aerodynamic skirting panels on the side of the cab fit almost flush with the body. The windscreen has been extended downwards. The mirror cams, that replace the conventional outside mirrors, are a distinctive feature on the truck.

The conventional air inlet has been omitted from the Urban eTruck because of the electric drive. Instead, a Black Panel grille is the branding element that connects the truck with its environment. It is transparent and back-lit by high-resolution LEDs. A number of different visual scenarios are conceivable: the LEDs can be used to recreate the signature Mercedes-Benz diamond radiator grille, to indicate the operating status of the truck or to show the charge level of the batteries.

Overall, the Urban eTruck represents the polarity between 'hot & cool' that is characteristic of Mercedes-Benz design. The sensual contouring of the lines is 'hot' and provides an exciting contrast to the highly technical 'cool' design features such as the embedded lighting, mirror cams and Black Panel grille.

World premiere: the new all-electric Fuso eCanter

The Fuso Canter E-Cell is now the Fuso eCanter. The new name represents the third generation of the world's first fully electric-powered light truck, and the small-scale production run is an important step on the way to full production. Technically, the eCanter is radically different from its predecessor and benefits from the extensive findings of customer trials with the second generation and the reduced costs of battery and component technology. It will be presented at the IAA International Motor Show for Commercial Vehicles 2016.

The Fuso eCanter's locally zero-emission drive will not only reduce the impact of exhaust and noise emissions on city centres, but will also be an economically attractive alternative to diesel engines. Thanks to lower technology costs the eCanter will be launched to market at a competitive price. Lower running costs compared to an equivalent diesel model mean that any additional expense can be repaid in less than three years.

The new eCanter uses a permanent synchronous electric motor with an impressive output of 185 kW and torque of 380 Nm. Power is transferred to the rear axle by a standard single-speed transmission.

The vehicle premiered at the IAA has a battery capacity of 70 kWh. Depending on the body, load and usage, a range of more than 100 km without stationary recharging is possible. The batteries are spread over five units, one centrally in the frame right behind the cab and two more on each side of the frame. They are water-cooled lithium-ion batteries that provide a long service life, high efficiency, especially at high ambient temperatures, and compact construction of the battery units. The eCanter's exceptional weight balance is worth highlighting. The chassis load capacity of the 7.49 t vehicle is 4.63 t including the body and load.

Individual battery packs with three to six sets of batteries of 14 kWh each are planned for the upcoming small-scale production run. This allows the eCanter to be adapted to customer requirements with regards to range, price and weight. The concept is based on the results of customer tests that show that for some operators, payload is more important than range, while others are happy to sacrifice payload for longer range, i.e. more batteries.

Equally adaptable are the charging options: up to 80 percent capacity within an hour with direct current at a quick charging station, or 100 percent in seven hours with alternating current. In the future, rapid charging with 170 kW will be possible, meaning 80 percent battery capacity in only half an hour. A standard Combo 2 plug (known as Combined Charging System) is used for charging.

The results of a year-long fleet test with the second generation electric Canter have shown that around 1000 euros per 10 000 km can be saved with this vehicle compared to a diesel version. Coupled with a reduction in maintenance costs of around 30 percent, this makes the Fuso an economical solution for customers. The projected sales price means that any additional expense will be repaid in less than three years. These vehicles have proven their suitability for daily use in short-radius distribution and urban transport.

The Fuso eCanter will have its world premiere at the IAA as a preview of the small-scale production run that will be delivered to customers in Europe, the USA and Japan as of 2017. The exhibition vehicle features a unique and attractive design, with LED headlamps and a distinct grille and bumper, and a redesigned interior including a central, removable tablet with connectivity functions. The wide comfort cab is painted in metallic blue, as are the fully-clad sides. A walk-on glass floor in the exhibition vehicle's box body offers a view of the drive unit and the batteries.

While these design elements provide a vision of the eCanter's future, the technology is the same as in the small-scale production model.