Mercedes-Benz has reiterated it will head towards providing an electric heartbeat to its entire fleet, outlining its electrification strategy for the next few years at a ‘Meet Mercedes’ presentation ahead of the Geneva Motor Show.
According to Ola Källenius, member of the board of management of Daimler AG, responsible for Group Research and Mercedes-Benz Cars Development, the automaker will be making a continued push on all segments related to electrification, namely EQ Boost, EQ Power and EQ.
“We will offer several electrified solutions for all mobility demands, and we plan to offer more than 10 purely electric models by 2025,” he said.
On the EQ Boost 48-volt mild hybrid front, he said that the 25 plus offerings with 48-volt systems the company had in place in 2018 was set to double to over 50 models this year, and to well over 100 by 2020.
Plug-in hybrid models, meanwhile, are set to get a “very steep ramp-up” from this year on, doubling to more than 10 models this year. By 2020, the automaker hopes to have more than 20 PHEV models out in the market,
Kallenius added that electric-only operating range in its PHEVs is set to make a significant jump this year. Right now, the range as measured under a worldwide harmonised light vehicles (WLTP) test cycle is up to 50 km, but this will be doubled from the second half of 2019, with the next-gen of PHEVs being able to run up to 100 km on electric power alone.
He added that with most daily commutes being in the 50 km range, having a 100 km distance should take care of 90% of users needs. The first vehicle capable of this will be the GLE, he said.
Kallenius confirmed that the A-Class and B-Class are set to go the PHEV route this year, with expected output from the system revealed to be above 200 hp and 400 Nm. It was previously reported that the powertrain for the compact car range will utilise a 1.3 litre four-cylinder petrol engine paired with a 90 hp electric motor.
The push in the pure electric EQ direction will continue through infrastructure development of the supply chain and charging support network. Aside from getting battery plants increasing to scale in quicker fashion, the former is seeing a 20 billion euro investment to ensure that the increasing need for battery cell supply is taken care of.
Elswwhere, the Ionity high-power charging network – which the automaker is involved in along with BMW, Ford and Volkswagen Group – remains on course to have 400 high power 350 kW charging points in place by 2020, according to Kalenius.
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This is in line with the whole world moving towards EV and PHEV and Hybrid.
Infact by 2035, the whole of Europe will be fully EV. No more petrol or diesel cars will be sold. That is just 16 years time!
In Malaysia, our Proton still tido
That sir is a good one, one of the better laughs I’ve had today. Ask where they get the cobalt from for their batteries and then ask how bad it is not only for the miners but the environment in general and then you’ll see that EV isn’t as clean as they claim but claiming it is is.
hmm you wont be laughing when the world’s oil reserves go down and fuel prices go up so high
Oil reserves will only be depleted in a few hundred years, by that time we will have vastly better electrical engines that can drive flying cars without the inefficiency of current battery technology. Or we can make do without that battery altogether since fusion tech would have been figured out by then. Clean, renewable energy without the aftereffects of toxic battery production and disposal.
FYI. Oil prices are controlled by the oil cartel. It has nothing to do with it being a finite resource or follow the supply and demand principles.
I say again. It’s right in Proton waiting for mass production. And?
Dah 5 tahun ni. Nak wait lagi?
There’s no market because EV infrastructure still not here yet. So yes, still need to wait for EV infrastructure before can start making and selling. Anything more?
By then, iriz EV dah outdated dah. Better beli kereta lain je
The technology and know how is still there, making transition to building newer EV cars a much smaller learning curve compared to starting from zero. And the EV powertrain will never get outdated unless EV tech is outdated. They can still implement it into newer cars for production and sales when the market is ready. Anything else?
we got ‘kereta terbang’…lol
why did Mercedes Benz Malaysia stop selling their phevs here again?
No more incentive by Madey & co. You can see hybrids & PHEV have gone up in pricing, so there’s no incentive for both.
How much the electric motor replacement ?
Electric motors can last a long time. It’s the batteries you should be worried about. It’s not cheap and likely 10 years down the line, obsolete. Petrol cars can still be used 50 years later.
Free. Won’t breakdown.
Have you ever had a table fan where the electric motor failed? Usually it’s the other parts that fail before the motor fails (should it even fail).
A combine output of 200hp and 400nm would mean the PHEV A class would almost rival the A250. Sub 7 sec 0-100kmh is possible and thank goodness the 1.3l engine is a 4 cylinder type instead of a 3 cylinder.