The German luxury car brand Mercedes-Benz aims to manufacture electric vehicles (EVs) exclusively at its plants by the second half of the decade, although it will forgo establishing EV-only facilities and will keep manufacturing plants adaptable to market requirements.
Its production chief, Joerg Burzer, told Reuters that some of its assembling lines within the plants will switch fully to electric very soon. “Building a whole new battery-electric vehicle factory takes time. We have taken another approach,” he said.
“We will certainly have some lines producing only electric vehicles in the next few years… we also see whole factories switching to electric — that is a topic for the second half of the decade,” Burzer added.
Later this year in Bremen, Mercedes will begin producing its EQE vehicle unveiled at the IAA Mobility show in September, followed by Beijing and Tuscaloosa.
The EQE is an electric version of the E-class, with a maximum range of 660 km. The company is relying on this model to enhance its EV sales as it transfers investments away from the internal combustion engines toward electric-only manufacturing infrastructure.
Talking about the production plans, Burzer said, “With the ramp-up of the EQE in Bremen and later in Beijing, we are coming into a segment where we can deliver at far higher volumes”.
Last year, battery-electric vehicles accounted for only 2.3 percent of Mercedes-Benz’s sales, or 11 percent when plug-in hybrids with both an engine and a battery are included. Electric and hybrid-electric cars are predicted to account for 50 percent of Mercedes-Benz’s sales by 2025, with all-electric cars contributing for the majority of it.
Current models are being manufactured in facilities that also make internal combustion engines, and the batteries are transported by train from Sindelfingen to factories in Germany and Hungary.
Speaking about the battery integration, Burzer also mentioned that as vehicle design evolves to incorporate the battery more closely into the automobile, battery assembly and production could be located nearer to car factories as well.
Via Reuters
