German descent with a long history, Mercedes-Benz O302 bus in previous lives.

The Iranian Mercedes-Benz O302 is still driving on the Iranian road.

Before, we wrote an article about Mercedes-Benz in Iran (roadside classic-Mercedes-Benz O309 from the Middle East), and introduced the bus O309 of Mercedes-Benz in Iran. A few days ago, the author saw an Iranian-made Mercedes-Benz O302 bus in China and became interested in it. This article will take a past life, a Mercedes-Benz O302 bus, to review this bus with a long history.

Mercedes-Benz O32 1H Bus

Before introducing the O302 bus, let's talk about its predecessor, the O32 1H bus. Mercedes-Benz O32 1H bus is a brand-new model launched by Mercedes-Benz in 1954 and 12, mainly for urban passenger transport and long-distance passenger transport. O32 1H stopped production on 1970, and the production quantity exceeded 20,000 units. There is no doubt that O32 1H is a successful model.

However, the problem of urban passenger transport is becoming more and more serious, and the market needs more models with large space and excellent chassis technology. Mercedes-Benz plans to introduce a new model to replace the old O321h.. So in May of 1965, Mercedes-Benz launched a brand-new standard bus involving urban passenger transport, rural passenger transport and tourist passenger transport, with the model of O302. It can be seen that Mercedes-Benz still has great expectations for O302. At that time, Daimler also wrote to bus users, saying: "There is no doubt that O302 bus will also conquer the world bus manufacturing field and be in a leading position."

Compared with the previous generation O32 1H, the appearance of O302 has changed greatly, from the "bread" shape of the previous generation model to what we see now. Although compared with many buses we see now, O302 still has some "bread" feeling, but it is not obvious. O302 adopts the design style of Bauhaus in 1960s. Bauhaus's design style is actually another name of modernist style, which advocates adapting to the needs of modern industrial production and life and paying attention to function, technology and economic benefits.

The diversification of vehicles is the proudest part of O302. There are four models of O302 between 9.6-12m for users to choose from. These models can be transformed into city buses, tourist buses or country buses, and the shapes of windows, doors and appearances are determined by users. The O302 in the above picture is very special, and adopts an unconventional door opening design.

In the workshop of Mercedes-Benz O302, we can see that this car uses a spiral spring independent suspension.

In terms of chassis, the early Mercedes-Benz O302 was equipped with leaf spring suspension and spiral spring suspension, but the comfort of these suspensions was relatively general. Slowly, airbag suspension began to spread, and 197 1 officially installed O302, and the comfort of passenger cars went up a step.

In addition to suspension, the power configuration has also been adjusted on the O302. Early Mercedes-Benz tended to use a smooth running engine to pursue vehicle comfort, but at the expense of economy. O302 adopts a 5.7-liter OM352 six-cylinder in-line engine with maximum power 130 horsepower. This is the most basic configuration, matching the five-speed manual transmission. The OM327 engine with a displacement of 8 liters can be selected for larger models. The maximum output power of this engine is 150 horsepower, which was later increased to 160 horsepower. Besides, Mercedes Benz is O302? Optional 8.7-liter OM360 engine, engine power 170 HP.

Mercedes-benz OM352 engine was installed on Mercedes-benz l-series trucks that year, and it was the fist product of Mercedes-benz.

In addition to the power configuration mentioned above, there is also a super powerful power to choose from. That's the OM355 heavy-duty diesel engine, with a displacement of11.6L. The maximum power of the engine reaches 240 horsepower. The total mass of Mercedes-Benz O302 is between 1 1.6- 16 tons. It is conceivable that when it is equipped with such a powerful engine, its performance is so excellent.

OE302 and its battery pack, e stands for electric drive.

However, the technical development of O302 did not stop there. 1969, Mercedes-Benz actually put the hybrid system on the O302. From the present point of view, this is definitely a very innovative breakthrough. The OE302 is also a landmark model, which is worth remembering even now.

Perspective view of OE302 chassis

In fact, OE302 is similar to our common hybrid car, equipped with three key components: battery, diesel engine and motor. The car is mainly driven by DC traction motor. The rated power of the motor can reach 156 horsepower, and the maximum power can reach 202 horsepower. The car is equipped with five battery packs with a maximum capacity of 9 1kWh. However, due to the underdeveloped battery technology at that time, the battery weight was as high as 3.5 tons. In order to meet the actual operation of the vehicle, the car is also equipped with a 65 horsepower diesel engine used by Mercedes-Benz van to meet the endurance requirements. It seems that the engine is not directly involved in driving, but a power component for generating electricity, so it is more accurate to say that OE302 is an extended-range power bus.

OE302 has a rated speed of 55 kilometers per hour and a top speed of 75 kilometers per hour. At present, it is normal to use hybrid power on buses, but more than 50 years ago, buses using hybrid power systems were really black technology. You know, at that time, the domestic automobile industry had just started, and the manufacturing technology of automobile engines was still very backward, let alone hybrid power.

O302 trolleybus

Needless to say, the O302 is definitely a successful model, and we can see that many modern bus technologies are brewed and installed on this car. During the production cycle of 1965- 1976 1 1, Mercedes-Benz O302 bus set a new record of its predecessor model O32 1H with 32,000 vehicles, and won an excellent market reputation. But the story doesn't end here. The legend of O302 has just begun.

Is Iranian Benz still operating? O302

Iran dero? DEISEL Iran Codero Diesel Engine Company is one of the commercial vehicle manufacturers that have obtained import licenses in the Middle East, CIS countries and Africa except Iran. The key point is that Iranian Codero Diesel Engine Company has the authorization of Daimler-Benz to manufacture Mercedes-Benz trucks and buses. However, due to technical reasons, Mercedes-Benz handed over the previous generation products to Iran Codero Diesel Engine Company for production. In the Middle East, O302 buses occupy most of the market, and most of them are still in operation. Before, we introduced the Iranian Mercedes-Benz L-series truck, which has returned to work today. And these O302 passenger cars, like those trucks, are still the main force of passenger transport in the Middle East.

In the exhibition area of Suzhou collector Wang Zhan, there are several Iranian Mercedes-Benz O302 buses parked in front of Qiandao Lake high-speed railway station, which can be seen outside high-speed railway station. In the next article, we will introduce the Mercedes-Benz O302 bus produced by Iranian Codero Diesel Engine Company, so please pay attention.

This article comes from car home, the author of the car manufacturer, and does not represent car home's position.