The world's first fuel-cell powered vehicle NECAR (New Electric Car) was created in 1994 on the basis of the MB 100.

From 2006 the fuel cell began to demonstrate its practical value: during initial field trials a fuel-cell Sprinter was used in day-to-day freight-forwarding operations by Hermes Versand in Germany. Until the end of 2007, further fuel-cell Sprinters were also tested in daily parcel delivery operations by UPS.

In 1996 natural gas powered vans achieved series production maturity: the first NGT Sprinter (Natural Gas Technology) was launched after exhaustive tests.

Testing of the new bivalent Sprinter NGT began in 2006 and 2008 brought the market launch. A successful combination of ecology and cost-effectiveness: in the version with the maximum number of natural gas tanks and a 100 l petrol tank, the vehicle has an operating range of up to 1200 km in combined natural gas/petrol operation. The Sprinter NGT is powered by a 1.8-litre engine with an output of 115 kW (156 hp).

In 2004 Mercedes-Benz presented the first Sprinter with hybrid drive and commenced an exhaustive, realistic trial phase. The vehicle had great operational flexibility thanks to its combination of diesel and electric power.

From September 2006 the Hybrid Sprinter underwent day-to-day trials with FedEx in the Paris area. In order to bring this technology to series production maturity, the testing of the hybrid drive was continued from 2007/2008 with the new Sprinter – and under real customer requirements as well.

At the 2008 IAA Commercial Vehicles Mercedes-Benz will present the Vito BlueEFFICIENCY with innovative measures for reducing fuel consumption and CO2 emissions. Equipped with a conventional engine, the ECO start-stop function, an ECO steering servo pump and a special aerodynamic package, the vehicle saves up to 1.5 l of fuel per 100 km and 40 g of CO2 per kilometre, and up to 2.3 l and 61 g of CO2 as a mild hybrid (in each case compared to a conventional Vito 115 CDI).