Mercedes working on four EVs; Debut by 2020

It seems that ever since Tesla gained popularity with its electric vehicles, every other big manufacturer has ramped up their electric cars dream. Everyone from Volvo to BMW to Audi has announced their plans for future electric vehicles, and this time around it’s Mercedes-Benz that has announced four pure electric cars by 2020. Merc’s current R&D boss, Thomas Weber, revealed these plans.

The German car giant plans to bring not less than four cars by the said period. And the lineup could constitute of two sedans and two SUVs. To facilitate an eased-out production process, Merc will use some existing cars to develop these. For example, the C-Class and S-Class sedans could help in the formation of these new sedans. On the other hand, the compact crossover GLA and the GLC could contribute to the upcoming electric SUV. However, all of these vehicles will adopt an all-new design scheme that will help distinguish them from the regular Mercs, while still being unmistakably Mercedes.

Mercedes is also said to be developing their own versions of electric motors which will power all these new vehicles. And if rumours are to be believed, the all-new platform could be called “Modular Electric Architecture” (MEA), which will plonk three electric motors in a vehicle, giving it the ability to switch between forward-wheel drive, rear-wheel drive, and even all-wheel drive type. The power to these motors could be provided by a fuel cell stack. And the electric motors could give an output ranging from 103PS to 551PS across different cars. These next-gen EVs also promise an extended range of about 402kms, thanks to better lithium-ion batteries from Accumotive.