Mercedes-Benz has issued a statement saying that the company is getting ready to go all-electric by the end of this decade, where market conditions allow. With this, the German luxury car manufacturer is moving from ‘electric-first’ to ‘electric-only,’ as it readies itself for an emissions-free future.
While Mercedes-Benz already has a few electric SUVs and a top-of-the-line electric luxury sedan in its global line-up, the company aims to have electric vehicles in each segment where it’s present, by next year. From 2025 onwards, the company will stop development work on new IC-engined cars; all newly-launched vehicle architectures from Mercedes will be electric-only, and customers will have the option of choosing an all-electric variant for every car produced by the company.
‘The EV shift is picking up speed, especially in the luxury segment where Mercedes-Benz belongs. The tipping point is getting closer and we will be ready as markets switch to electric-only by the end of this decade,’ said Ola Källenius, CEO of Daimler AG and Mercedes-Benz AG. ‘This step marks a profound reallocation of capital. By managing this transformation while safeguarding our profitability targets, we will ensure the enduring success of Mercedes-Benz,’ he added.
To facilitate the move towards electric mobility, Mercedes-Benz will invest more than 40 billion euros towards research and development activities pertaining to the battery and electric motor technologies. In 2025, the company will launch three electric-only architectures: MB.EA for medium to large-size passenger cars, AMG.EA for high-performance electric vehicles and VAN.EA for electric vans and light commercial vehicles.
Over the next few years, Mercedes-Benz aims to reorganise its powertrain activities and insource electric drive technologies. The company recently bought over the UK-based electric motor company, YASA, which allows it to access YASA’s advanced axial flux electric motor technology, which will help in the development of future EVs. Mercedes-Benz will also set up eight ‘Gigafactories’ for producing high-capacity batteries, which will be standardised and suitable for use in more than 90% of all Mercedes-Benz cars and vans.
The German carmaker is also working on its ‘Plug & Charge’ EV charging infrastructure, which will ultimately allow customers to plug-in and charge their electric cars without having to go through the extra steps that are currently needed for authentication and payment processing. Plug & Charge will go live in Europe with the market launch of the EQS later this year. Mercedes-Benz, which already has more than 500,000 EV charging points worldwide, is working with Shell on expanding the network further.
Next year, Mercedes will unveil the all-new Vision EQXX, an advanced electric car with a real-world range of more than 1,000km. Technological advances made with Vision EQXX will be adapted and applied for potential use in new electric architectures from the company. In the meanwhile, Mercedes-Benz is preparing its global production facilities for electric-only output, though the pace of ramp-up will be according to the demands of each individual market.
By the year 2025, Mercedes expects that 50% of all new cars it sells will be all-electric, which will go up to 100% all-electric by 2030. ‘Our main duty in this transformation is to convince customers to make the switch with compelling products,’ said Källenius. In India, the EQC all-electric SUV was launched towards the end of last year, while the new EQS luxury sedan is expected to arrive here by the end of this year or, perhaps, early next year. Like some other luxury car manufacturers (Audi, Jaguar Land Rover and Volvo, to name a few) who’ve promised to go all-electric over the next 10-15 years, Mercedes-Benz is also now fully committed to electric mobility, and there’s no turning back.
