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Mercedes' Future Electric Plans Come into Focus

Almost two years ago, we were reporting a somewhat surprising fact about Mercedes' upcoming lineup and how it would be largely based on just four platforms instead of nine like it did until the mid-2000s.
Mercedes-Benz IAA Concept 1 photo
Photo: Daimler AG
What we didn't tell you then was how some of those upcoming four architectures would include a special electric niche. Or at least, this is the word coming from Car Magazine's Georg Kacher, and he's been right before.

Apparently, Mercedes-Benz really wants a piece of the luxury EV pie and is not content with leaving it all to Tesla Motors, not to mention that both Porsche and Audi are investing in luxury all-electric vehicles as well.

The electrification plan from Stuttgart will allegedly start as early as 2018 when a sedan positioned between the C-Class and the soon-to-be-unveiled E-Class will make its appearance, followed in just under a year by a crossover positioned between the GLC and the GLE.

According to Kacher, the so-called “EVA architecture” is derived from the MRA (Modular Rear-wheel-drive Architecture) and it will incorporate a gigantic 400 kg (880-pound) lithium-ion battery on both the sedan and the crossover. It seems that both models will be powered by a single electric motor for the RWD versions while AWD versions will benefit from another electric motor to power the front axle exclusively.

This arrangement closely mirrors the one used by Tesla on the Model S, and considering the special friendship between the two companies, we wouldn't be surprised if EVA had some R&D input from Tesla Motors engineers.

In RWD guise, it seems that the electric motor will develop around 400 horsepower while AWD models will up that figure to either 520 or 600 horsepower thanks to a second, smaller motor.

If all goes well, a so-called EVA Phase II will commence around 2020, when Mercedes-Benz allegedly plans to unveil an all-electric luxury alternative to the S-Class and another crossover even larger than the GLS. The carmaker wants to sell around 20,000 units of each model per year, which is a bit optimistic in today's market, but you never know how things could evolve in a few years in this segment.
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About the author: Alex Oagana
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Alex handled his first real steering wheel at the age of five (on a field) and started practicing "Scandinavian Flicks" at 14 (on non-public gravel roads). Following his time at the University of Journalism, he landed his first real job at the local franchise of Top Gear magazine a few years before Mircea (Panait). Not long after, Alex entered the New Media realm with the autoevolution.com project.
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