Mercedes-Benz commits to all-electric versions of all its models by 2025

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Another automaker is plugging away at its future, with Mercedes-Benz’s late July announcement that every one of its models will have an all-electric version by 2025, and that it will offer only all-electric models by the end of the decade “where market conditions allow,” although what markets those are and what conditions will apply weren’t divulged.

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The announcement was made during a global online presentation from Germany on July 22, which included a teaser view of its curvaceous Vision EQXX concept car, which will be fully unveiled in 2022 with a promised battery range of more than 1,000 kilometres on a charge.

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While the Vision EQXX has been confirmed, there are also rumours the boxy G-Class will announce its electric plans with a concept, likely to be called the EQG, that will be unveiled at the IAA Mobility Show in Munich this coming September. It’s expected to be just as off-road-ready as the thirsty gasoline version is, with an electric motor driving each axle, and with locking differentials for the tough stuff.

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“The EV shift is picking up speed, especially in the luxury segment, where Mercedes-Benz belongs,” said Ola Källenius, CEO of Daimler and Mercedes-Benz, who added that the move to electricity will require a major shift of where it allocates its cash. “By managing this faster transformation while safeguarding our profitability targets, we will ensure the enduring success of Mercedes-Benz.”

The timeline is to offer a battery-electric vehicle by 2022 in every segment where Mercedes-Benz has vehicles, before then adding an EV to every model line within three years after that. The electric strategy will also involve performance division Mercedes-AMG; and ultra-luxury division Mercedes-Maybach.

In 2025, the company will launch three electric-only platforms. These will be the MB.EA for medium to large passenger cars; the AMG.EA for performance vehicles; and the VAN.EA for purpose-built electric vans and light commercial vehicles.

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From 2025 on, all new architecture development will be electric-only. It is partnering with other companies to develop and produce battery cells in Europe, and has plans for eight gigafactories. From 2022 to 2030, it expects to invest more than €40 billion (CDN$59 billion) in its electric transformation, and said China will play a key role in accelerating the strategy, since it is both the world’s largest new-energy-vehicle market, and home “to hundreds of companies and suppliers specialized in EV components and software technologies.”

Mercedes-Benz has bought Yasa, a British electric motor company that originated in Oxford University. It makes ultra-high-performance axial flux motors, which are smaller and more efficient than traditional electric-vehicle motors. The German automaker also plans to incorporate seamless charging, without extra steps for authentication and payment, and to have more than 530,000 AC and DC charging points globally.

The Vision EQXX concept car will reveal technology advances that will potentially make their way into production vehicles. Mercedes-Benz said it is targeting the vehicle to achieve more than 9 km per kWh at normal highway speeds – most production EVs currently get about 5 to 6 km per kWh – and more than 1,000 km on a charge.

Thanks to its early investments in flexible manufacturing, Mercedes-Benz said it can mass-produce EVs right now, and by next year will build eight models in seven of its factories. The company also plans to achieve carbon-neutral production by 2022.