Mercedes Plans Fleet of EVs to Compete With Tesla, Others

by Aaron Cole

Updated: November 18th, 2020

mercedes plans fleet of evs to compete with tesla others

While none of them will look anything like this, Car reports that Mercedes-Benz has a pretty firm plan in place to compete against EV makers and German rivals before the end of the decade.

The magazine reports that Mercedes plans to have a sedan on sale by 2018, followed shortly by a crossover to compete directly against Tesla before the end of the decade. Car also reported that Mercedes will add another crossover and an electric S-Class shortly thereafter.

The first car will reportedly be sized between its C- and E-Class, but it’s price tag sure won’t be.

According to Car, the electrified MB sedan could start around $100,000, with its crossover and luxury models soaring well north of that by the end of the decade.

That would be in line with other automakers such as Porsche and Audi, who have announced they’ll both offer electric sedans and crossovers before the end of the decade.

Considering we see more white tigers in the wild than Mercedes’ other, other electric vehicle — its B-Class — it stands to reason that the automaker has more of a future in luxury EVs than it does in “everyday” electric cars.

But considering Tesla’s viability seems to be hinging on whether it can produce an affordable electric car by the end of this year, it seems odd that Mercedes would be choosing to start at the top — and then go higher.

#Audi #B-series #CarMagazine #ElectricCars #Mercedes #Mercedes-Benz #Porsche #Tesla

Aaron Cole

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14 of 30 comments

Nickoo on Jan 03, 2016

Without supercharging networks. No ev is going to ever be tesla. Supercharging is teslas real innovation. If the giga factory is succesful, they will all be buying from tesla as well.

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- Bigtruckseriesreview @ Youtube on Jan 03, 2016
  
  All it will take is businesses, malls, gas stations, etc to decide to install their own charging stations. They afterall want people stopping in for snacks and other shopping - which is how they make their revenue. If there was at least one charger at every single major building, range anxiety would disappear for good.
  
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- Nickoo on Jan 03, 2016
  
  @bigtruckseriesreview @ Youtube I agrre. But none of them have done it yet, i guess they dont care. Also the non tesla chargers are woefully underpowered.
  
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- Bigtruckseriesreview @ Youtube on Jan 03, 2016
  
  @nickoo There's no reason for them to do so. Government should be giving tax breaks to small businesses and large businesses to install these chargers on their premises.
  
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- Derekson on Jan 03, 2016
  
  If Mercedes or Porsche tell their dealers they need to install fast charging bays to build a network, it will get done faster than you imagine. These companies have enough established dealership footprint to largely build charging infrastructure around them. And unlike something like the Leaf charging at Nissan dealers, luxury dealers actually understand how they need to treat customers.
  
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- Nickoo on Jan 03, 2016
  
  @derekson They could do it but dealership locations won't be enough, Tesla has a huge headstart on them. Also they will need to develop a plan to charge at 150 kilowatts plus, which is around the bare minimum acceptable charging speed for stop in charging. I actually think BMW is the only luxury brand serious about EVs at this point, so it will be interesting to see if the others ever get beyond the drawing board. 2016 USA supercharger network will have 585 chargers and it will just keep growing. https://www.google.com/search?q=2016+supercharge+network&oq=2016+supercharge+network&aqs=chrome..69i57.7861j0j4&client=tablet-android-polaroid&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8#imgrc=cNir1XYNZNnI2M%3A
  
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- Bigtruckseriesreview @ Youtube on Jan 03, 2016
  
  @nickoo What we need is a powerful, High-Amperage, High -Voltage charging system with a STANDARD PAY SYSTEM. I should be able to take ANY EV to ANY charger, and automatically pay - like Applepay or Paypal - and simply charge and go.
  
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- Mcs on Jan 04, 2016
  
  @derekson Dealership charging doesn't work. Ron Bouchard Nissan in Lancaster MA decided to restrict their level 3 charger to individuals that have bought cars at their dealership. Kelly Nissan in Woburn MA likes to park used cars for sale in their charging spots. Commonwealth Nissan in Lawrence MA charges $6 for a level 3 charge. Some dealers restrict charging to dealership hours. The problem is that you pretty much never need a local dealer to charge at. It's almost always someplace unfamiliar. Having a network along major highways that's open 24 hrs a day is the ideal situation. No mystery as to what you might be facing. For me, 200+ mile range is going to pretty much eliminate any need for public charging. My longest trip, Boston to Vermont, can be easily made with the next generation of EV. But, I would like to have a viable network available if I wanted to go further. Any car depending on a dealership charging network will be ruled out - regardless of how pretty its interior is.
  
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Inside Looking Out on Jan 03, 2016

Yeah, we desperately need German engineered electric cars. It will certainly solve all their quality and reliability problems. I have high confidence that they will come up with simple, elegant and effective engineering solutions which will put Tesla into shame.

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Lorenzo on Jan 03, 2016

BAH! We'll have to go back to burning coal to produce the electricity to charge all those EVs. Wind and solar can't even keep up with current usage.

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- Brandloyalty on Jan 03, 2016
  
  Further education on this subject: https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/wind-solar-power-soar-in-spite-of-bargain-prices-for-fossil-fuels/2015/12/30/754758b8-af19-11e5-9ab0-884d1cc4b33e_story.html
  
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- 28-Cars-Later on Jan 04, 2016
  
  @brandloyalty Thanks for the link, I'll believe it more when its in multiple trusted sources. FWIW I think solar has a bright future as a decentralized power solution. Panel cost and installation are what holds it back. When it gets to the point you can buy installation brackets and single 1000 watt panels for under $500/apiece it will really take off, IMO. Currently a kit of four runs $2,500 (and uses 72 sqft of roof space). http://www.homedepot.com/p/Grape-Solar-1-060-Watt-Expandable-Poly-Crystalline-PV-Grid-Tied-Solar-Power-Kit-GS-1060-KIT/205495634 Wind is too centralized of a solution and requires acres and acres of dedicated real estate (not to mention the birds it kills). Solar panels could just be plugged into existing infrastructure. Solar ROI needs to improve before most people take it seriously. Using this 2014 power bill from my apt I have handy, I used 108kWH for a then charge of 19.83 (all charges went up 7.00/mo in fees in 2015 when the state sold us out to the utility companies). Per HD, those four panels could generate between 750 kWh and 1,800 kWh per year. Let's take 1,000 kWh/year for the sake of math plus the fact its very cloudy here, round down 108 to 100 for the apt. and round up 2014 cost to $20.00/100kWh. So those panels make me roughly $200 of electricity per year, and pay for themselves in 12.5 years. If we use a more current figure (say $30 for the same 100/kWh) it becomes 8.3 years for a payoff. I'd love to know the wholesale costs on one of those solar kits. Regarding windmills, the fuzzy math used here demonstrates a windmill being profitable after six years, however it takes $100K from its $279K price in "incentives" right off of the bat. It also fails to take into account land cost (if any), property taxes (if any), and windmill maint costs. http://www.getsmartenergy.com/economics/rio-calculator.aspx
  
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- Sportyaccordy on Jan 04, 2016
  
  @28-Cars-Later Issue with solar is it doesn't generate all the time. It is very finicky and supplementary. But nuclear can handle base load. There are alternative purchasing plans that get away from simple payback. For example you can do a PPA where they install equipment on your property and you buy power from them. In states with high utility costs you can often buy power from those little plants at lower rates than regular distributed power. Only downside to that is you have to commit for a long time. There are also little solar farms that sell to regions with enough commitment. Many ways to skin the cat. But solar can't replace generation until they deal with the storage issue. And there is the efficency thing and just the simple amount of available energy from the sun, which I think is about 14W/sqft. That drops down to ~3W/sqft from the most efficient panels. Lot of moving pieces and open ends
  
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Stingray65 on Jan 04, 2016

Let me see if I understand the comments. Pro-Tesla: crappy interiors, but they have the supercharging network that the Germans don't have. Pro-German: stronger brands, nicer interiors, but no charging networks. What no one has mentioned 1) not a single electric car currently being produced is profitable, even though they are heavily subsidized, and I don't think the profit problem is due to brand or interior related issues. 2) The supercharging networks are also not profitable, even though they are heavily subsidized, and it is unclear to me why anyone will want to build thousands more without a clear path to profitability.

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