Concept reveals future of electric cars
Mercedes-Benz has revealed a stunning interpretation of how it thinks the traditional luxury car may progress into the digital age with the flamboyant 550kW electric-powered Vision Maybach 6 – a near-to-six-metre-long gullwing touting coupe the German car maker says embodies the ultimate in future motoring.
One of the stars of the Monterey Car Week in California, the vast new concept car has been created to pay homage to the extravagantly styled aero coupes of the early 1900s. At the same time, the Maybach 6 also hints at plans by Mercedes-Benz for a new Rolls-Royce Wraith rivalling coupe.
Styled by a small team at Mercedes-Benz’s main studio in Stuttgart under the leadership of the company’s head of design, Gorden Wagener, the Maybach 6 reinterprets many classic Maybach design themes while incorporating elements of Mercedes-Benz’s latest design linage, as first previewed on the IAA (Intelligent Aerodynamic Automobile) at last year’s Frankfurt Motor Show.
The starting point for Mercedes-Benz’s bold new concept is a new electric vehicle platform to be revealed in greater detail at the upcoming Paris Motor Show. Known internally as the MEA (Modular Electric Architecture) structure, it features a flat floor to house a large battery.
Powered by an 80kWh lithiumion battery, the big coupe employs a quartet of synchronous electric motors – two up front acting on the front wheels and another pair at the rear acting on the rear wheels - to provide the four-wheel drive concept car with a combined 550kW.
This is 160kW more than the most powerful MercedesMaybach model in production today, the twin-turbocharged 6.0-litre V12 petrol engine powered 600L. It is also just 2kW shy of the Mercedes-Benz’s most powerful electric car to date, the SLS Electric Drive.
Although Mercedes-Benz won’t be drawn on a theoretical kerb weight for the king-sized Vision Maybach 6, computer simulations suggest a possible production version of the big two-plus-two coupe concept car would be capable of providing 0-100kmh acceleration in less than 4.0sec.
The generously sized battery, mounted low down wholly within the new concept car’s more-than- three-metre-long wheelbase, is claimed to provide the Maybach 6 with an overall range of up to 500km on the European test procedure, or 322km on the more strenuous US test.
Charging is via either conventional plug-in means or an inductive plate.