Silent times ahead
Mercedes-Benz has announced plans to make its entire range fully-electric by 2030
THE EV TRANSITION IS COMING INTO PLAY, NOT NINE YEARS LATER, BUT RIGHT NOW
AT THIS POINT, IT’S ALMOST CLICHE to say that the future is electric. The ICE’s days are numbered, we’ve known that for a while now but after the MercedesBenz Strategy Update, those days seem far fewer than we’d thought.
By the end of the decade, the entire Mercedes-Benz lineup will be electric. Yes, that includes AMGs and Maybach. Thought a four-cylinder C 63 was bad? Well, a no-cylinder C 63 takes the cake when it comes to giving me anticipatory anxiety. I’m sure the all-electric AMG lineup will be shockingly fast, they’ll probably be great to drive too with the low centre of gravity and what not. But an AMG without the ear-splitting noise, the silly pops and crackles is like a Michelin-starred dish without salt.
Perhaps more worrying for petrolheads such as yours truly is that the EV transition is coming into play, not nine years later, but right here and now. Next year, we’ll get to see the Vision EQXX which is said to have a real-world range of over 1000km. Within the next couple of years we’ll get a first look at the EQE and EQS SUVs, and a year later Mercedes will offer a BEV alternative for every segment. From 2025 onward, every new vehicle architecture will be EV-only, and the first three of these have already been announced — MB.EA (medium to large cars), AMG.EA (performance cars) and VAN.EA (light commercial vehicles). Of course, this also means a huge shift in terms of manufacturing, finance and personnel. Mercedes will be working with companies to increase its battery production capacities and has already acquired YASA, a UK-based firm specialising in electric motors, which has allowed it to use YASA’s axial flux motor technology and develop its own electric powertrains. Mercedes is also putting in place eight factories for cell manufacturing. These factories will produce next generation batteries that will be more standardised across the entire range, reducing overall cost.
Mercedes expects similar profit margins with its BEVs in the future as its ICE models do currently, and a big chunk of these margins will come from higher-end electric vehicles, like ones from AMG and Maybach. As far as personnel is concerned, Mercedes is already working on re-skilling its workforce for e-mobility and the onset of more technology in cars will open up 3,000 new software-related jobs worldwide.
Now if you remember, Jaguar made a similar announcement a few months ago, but it didn’t have the same sort of impact that Mercedes’ announcement has. Mercedes is the unofficial flagbearer of the automotive industry. It has been at the forefront in terms of engines, technology and luxury for years now and anything that Mercedes does, sets a trend for the entire industry to follow. Mercedes’ shift to electric will inevitably force other major companies to follow suit, or one-up them by making the transition sooner. The future is electric, and it looks like the future is here.