Mercedes-Benz announce all electric plans for the future

A look at the future plans for Mercedes-Benz and their line-up of electric vehicles

Mercedes-Benz have announced that they are preparing to go all electric by the end of the decade, providing the market conditions allow. The pledge will see great changes across the board, including an investment of over €40 billion into battery electric vehicles between 2022 and 2030, all of which have been detailed in a thorough plan.

As of 2025, Mercedes-Benz will launch just three electric-only architectures across the entire product range:

• MB.EA will cover all medium to large size passenger cars, introducing a scalable modular system as the underlying foundation for the future EV portfolio.
• AMG.EA will be a dedicated performance electric vehicle platform.
• VAN.EA will support a new era of purpose made electric vans and Light Commercial Vehicles, which will play a part in the reduction of transport emissions within cities.

Mercedes-Benz will require a battery capacity of more than 200 Gigawatt hours. In addition to the network of nine plants dedicated to building battery systems which are already planned, Mercedes-Benz intends to set up eight Gigafactories alongside its partners around the world, to produce cells.
The new generation of batteries will be highly standardised and compatible across more than 90% of all Mercedes-Benz cars and vans. They also plan to work with partners like SilaNano in a bid to further refine and enhance battery range, and require even shorter charging times. This will be achieved through the use of silicon-carbon composite in the anode, which will further increase energy density.

The introduction of ‘Plug & Charge’ – which will go live alongside the launch of the EQS later this year – will enable customers to plug-in, charge and unplug without additional steps for authentication and payment processing being required. Mercedes-Benz are also working with Shell to expand their already vast Mercedes me Charge network. This partnership will grant Mercedes-Benz customers enhanced access to Shell’s Recharge network, which will consist of over 30,000 charge points across Europe, China and North America by 2025.

In terms of production, Mercedes-Benz is already well placed for the mass production of electric vehicles as a result of early investment into flexible manufacturing and the state-of-the art MO360 production system. In fact, as early as next year, eight Mercedes-Benz electric vehicles will be produced at seven locations across three continents. With a focus on the production process as well as its output, all passenger car and battery assembly sites run by Mercedes-Benz AG will switch to carbon neutral production by 2022. In a bid to further enhance manufacturing efficiency, Mercedes-Benz will partner with German-based GROB – a global leader in innovative battery production and automation systems – to strengthen its battery production capacity.