At the halfway point of a three-year operator trial of 10 Mitsubishi Fuso Canter hybrids in London, Daimler says the vehicles have so far saved 5,000 litres of fuel and 13 tonnes of CO2.
In a sign of how important the company sees these trials, it staged a full-blown international press conference at Mercedes-Benz World in Surrey, hosted by Fumio Akikawa, head of the Global Hybrid Centre in Kawasaki, Japan.
Nine UK operators, specially selected to provide a realistic challenge, are running the 7.5-tonne trucks on a variety of operations, including mail and parcels, highway maintenance and food deliveries.
Distances covered so far have varied between 12,000km and 48,000km per vehicle, with a total of 260,000km.
The rate of hybrid support from the electric motors has varied between 13% and 18%, giving a total fuel saving so far of around 5,000 litres, or 13 tonnes of CO2.
In real terms, one operator, Tesco, is averaging 17mpg delivering to its city centre Express stores in a box van with PTO-driven fridge.
The operators have reported no significant technical problems, and a specially equipped service vehicle hasn't had to be mobilised.
Next year will see UK trials of a 12-tonne Atego.
Despite the success of the current trials, Daimler's UK commercial vehicle MD Ian Jones says there are still too many uncertainties to predict when hybrid trucks will become a realistic, commercially viable option rather than a corporate statement of environmental concern.
These constantly changing variables include the relative costs of fossil fuels and batteries, as well as the provision of any political incentives.
Globally, sales of hybrid light delivery trucks above 2,000kg have increased from 0.95% of the total market in 2004, to 2.5% last year, with Daimler now taking 80% of this number.
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