It is an electric future and Mercedes-Benz has confirmed it with its new electric roadmap. The German carmaker plans to introduce their first all-electric vehicle next year with electrification of its entire portfolio by 2022.
The parent company Daimler will be investing 10 billion Euros (Around Rs 80 thousand crores) in the expansion of its electrical fleet and an additional one billion Euros in a global battery production network. The in-house developed battery technology will scale the global production network with production facilities all around the world. Currently Daimler has five battery factories across three continents.
By 2022, the company plans to offer at least one electrified alternative across its model range. There will be more than 50 electrified vehicle variants. Meanwhile, Mercedes-Benz will also focus on the development of plug-in hybrids and the introduction of 48-volt powertrains. The Stuttgart-based carmaker wants to have more than ten models of the over 50 electrified vehicles to be fully electric cars across all the segments.
The first electric Three-Pointed Star, the EQC, will roll off the production line from the Bremen facility in 2019. Following that, the BBAC production line in Beijing will also roll out electric vehicles with the help of Daimler’s joint venture with BAIC, the Chinese carmaker. Mercedes’ other plants will start producing EVs as well. The Rastatt facility in Germany will produce the EQA compact, the Tuscaloosa; USA plant will manufacture EQ SUVs and the Sindelfingen plant in the home country will roll out the EQ upper and luxury class vehicles. This year, Daimler will complete the set-up of its second battery factory in Kamenz, Germany to help the production of EQC at the Bremen plant.
