Mercedes-Benz will be all-electric by 2030
Mercedes-Benz has told the world’s press it will go all-electric by 2030, at least ‘where market conditions allow’. The German manufacturing giant will shift from ‘electric-first to electriconly’ and accelerate towards an ‘emissions-free and software-driven future.’ It plans to invest £34 billion into electric vehicle technology between 2022 and 2030.
By next year, Mercedes-Benz will have a battery electric vehicle (BEV) in every market area it sits in. From 2025 onwards, all new vehicle architectures it launches will be electric-only and there will be an EV version of every model it builds. The world’s oldest motorcar manufacturer has already launched the EQA, EQB, EQS and EQV, while the EQE and EQS luxury SUVs are due to arrive in 2022.
Mercedes-Benz plans to launch three BEV vehicle architectures in 2025, starting with ‘MB.EA’. This will form the building blocks for medium and large passenger cars and form the ‘backbone’ of its EV portfolio. ‘AMG.EA’ will be dedicated to high-performance electric models designed to cater for Mercedes-AMG customers. Lastly, ‘VAN.EA’ will sit beneath a new generation of electric vans and light commercial vehicles. Its huge investment also includes the acquisition of UK-based motor manufacturer YASA, giving Mercedes-Benz access to its unique axial flux motor technology. This can yield lighter and more energy-dense motors than the radial electric motors currently in widespread use.
To ensure a steady and robust supply of batteries, Mercedes-Benz also plans to invest in eight new battery ‘Gigafactories’ globally, with a target of 200GWh of annual capacity. This is in addition to a network of nine battery facilities that are already planned. To help reduce costs, this next generation of batteries will be highly standardised to ensure they can be used in more than 90 per cent of Mercedes-Benz products.
The marque announced it is working with charging infrastructure partners, including Shell Recharge, to make it more convenient for owners to top-up their vehicle’s battery. The partnership will add a further 30,000 charge points by 2025 to the existing ‘Mercedes me Charge’ network of more than 530,000 charge points worldwide. The plan is for owners to be able to plug in, charge and unplug without any further complications or steps.