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Mercedes going electric with BlueZero E-cell Plus concept

Posted by Hootan Mahallati | September 02, 2009 | In green mercedes-benz news

Those Germans, bless their hearts, are as good coming up with ridiculously convoluted car model names as they are engineering complex vehicles (see our recent post on Mercedes' fuel cell car to see where we are coming from). This is the Mercedes-Benz BlueZero E-cell Plus concept, Mercedes-Benz's first, almost-production ready electric vehcile. The E-Cell is based on a modified A-Class chassis and will be produced in limited numbers starting next year.

As with the Chevrolet Volt, the car's electric motor is powered by an internal combustion engine mated to a generator. In other words, the three-cylinder engine sourced from Daimler's Smart takes a back seat to the electric motor, which has sole duty for vehicle drive.

The E-cell's Lithium-ion battery has an output of 18kWh, and the electirc motor generates 94 hp and 236 lb-ft of torque. These figures are good for a claimed 0-62 mph run in 11 seconds and a top speed of 93mph. Pure electric range is claimed to be 62 miles, extended to 373 miles on one tank of gasoline in the combined drive mode. The batteries take less than 30 minutes to recharge.

The E-cell will be officially unveiled at this month's Frankfurt Auto Show.

[Source: auto motor und sport]

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