Mercedes-Benz first exhibited the concept of a powerful plug-in hybrid S-Class at Frankfurt 2009 in the form of the Vision S500 Plug-In Hybrid Concept. Based on the pre-facelift W221 which was the current generation S-Class of the time, the Vision S500 mated the company’s 3.5 litre normally aspirated V6 to a 60 horsepower electric motor.
Four years later, a production version of the S500 plug-in hybrid is now one step closer to the showrooms as Mercedes-Benz have revealed that the production S500 Plug-in Hybrid based on the new W222 S-Class will make a global debut at this year’s Frankfurt Motor Show. A prototype vehicle was exhibited at the S-Class global media drive that we attended last week.
Compared to the Vision S500 from 2009, there has been quite a few changes to the S500 Plug-In Hybrid. For one, it’s now based on the new W222. It continues to be powered by a V6 engine but loses 500cc of displacement in exchange for two turbochargers.
The combustion engine is a 3.0 litre twin turbocharged V6 from the S400, producing 328 horsepower and 480 Nm of torque. No power figures for the electric motor have been mentioned yet, but it’s powered by a 8.7 kWh lithium ion battery in the trunk, which does intrude into the boot space a little as you can see from the photos. The electric motor is mounted in-line with the 7G-Tronic gearbox.
EV mode range is roughly 30 km on a full charge and up to 120 km/h, and you can recharge the electric motor’s batteries through a power socket located at the right edge of the rear bumper, which is the same side as the fuel lid. The rear positioning is no big loss – it means that you’ll have to reverse the car into an EV charging bay should you choose to charge publicly, or reverse into your garage. Being a plug-in hybrid instead of a pure EV, charging to the brim takes only about two hours.
The S500 Plug-In Hybrid will be the most powerful W222 S-Class Hybrid out of the three different hybrid models that we know of now. The W222 also has a petrol electric hybrid called the S400 Hybrid and a diesel electric hybrid called the S300 BlueTEC Hybrid.
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2 hours to recharge versus 3 minute to refuel petrol car. That’s the reason why electric car cannot be as well accepted as petrol car until they can find a way to get round this problem… unless of course the earth runs out of petrol.
That’s why i thought honda’s FCX Clarity liquid nitrogen car, which allows user to pump liquid nitrogen at a much shorter time frame, would be a better way forward.
The FCX Clarity used hydrogen fuel cells not nitrogen and under combustion with air produces water or h2o. That was only a pilot project introduced in California where pumps are fitted with hydrogen under very low temperature.
Oppss… hydrogen not nitrogen… tx for pointing out.
Well, you can charge it overnight. It’s also no big deal if you don’t have the time or place to charge it, coz you still have the big fat 3.0l twin turbo monster under the hood!
Yes, smaller CC is the way. Only the scum US cars are going higher in cc. Some even got 8000cc. And then the scum US people say we Asians cause global warming.
merc engineer need to rethink on that plug charging-in spot…other then cosmetic…its a bumper…even the name itself tell us the purpose
I hope big manufacturers will start using their engine as electric generators like Fisker Karma (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fisker_Karma)or Chevy Volt.In Fisker Karma, they use 2.0 Ecotec Engine and its quite ingenious.
The mechanical complexity required to make a car like that REEV is higher than normal hybrids given that both Fisker and Chevy had some bad publicity of their car decided to become a BBQ pit .But I do agree that manufacturer would strive to Perdue that concept as a step closer of getting the general public to accept EVs. The last time the Germans made a REEV, was in WW2, the Ferdinand tank destroyer, and boy did that broke down a lot.
Only 30km distance no need to publish. It’s a shame!