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BMW M4 GTS, Toyota C-HR, Renault Megane Why built-in-sa hybrid Merc matters

You spot the first of them in the distance as you crest a rise on the run-in to Jeffreys Bay, on the Port Elizabeth side. Wind turbines are tall and white and you can’t help noticing there are lots of them about. This is a very windy part of the country.

I feel a kind of connection with the electricity-generating turbines. I’m driving the first built-in-africa hybrid, the Mercedes-benz C350e. This is a car that not only consumes energy, but also produces it.

We should care about this. South Africa’s green economy is said to be the fastest-growing on the planet and was worth more than R60 billion last year, according to a recent Daily Maverick report. By mid-2016, renewables provided about 16 per cent of South Africa’s peak energy requirements, that report went on, adding that wind is a big part of that and, by year-end, we’re expected to have 400 wind turbines running. That’s not just because we need to find alternative sources of energy. It’s a cost thing, too. The report quoted energy expert Professor Anton Eberhard, who heads the Management Programme in Infrastructure Regulation and Reform, as saying that our cheapest sources of energy are now wind and solar.

Right now, cheap is not exactly top of mind. I am sitting in a pretty classy conveyance that is not only travelling at 10 kilometres an hour over the national speed limit, but doing so on electric power alone. Just because I can. As can you, for R804 900, which admittedly also gets you truly nice stuff like air suspension and radar and infotainment displays and everything. And the smug look – plus the 600 Newton-metres – that goes this being a plug-in hybrid.

Hybrids are going to be big, very big, in parent company Daimler’s plans. In the next two years, every four to five months we can expect a new plug-in hybrid model from them.

How would this gel with Mercedes-benz’s venerable East London plant, where the salty tang of sea air wafting across the production floor tells you of its decades-long strategic harbourfront location? A 60-year-old facility that recently waved the millionth car off its production line, it’s scored plenty of accolades over the years. Its cosy ties with its community are reflected in a remarkable 99,2 per cent attendance record. Yet this old dog runs some of the most advanced manufacturing systems in the world. Even so, it still had a few new tricks to learn. And it learnt them in less than a year; this plant is now one of four in the world building these hybrids and exports to Australia, the UK and Japan.

In parts and part variances alone, the bin tally increased by 500. Extra machinery includes a high-lift system that allows hybrid system componentry such as highvoltage cabling to be installed from underneath. That involves 11 extra personnel alone out of the initial 45 that had to be added to the payroll. The 88-cell battery weighs 100 kilograms, so a special manipulator had to be implemented to help the operator fit it on the assembly line. Overall, the hybrid brings 48 to 50 minutes of additional work content on the production line.

Pioneering the technology in South Africa meant having to fly in instructors from Germany, says Lieb Otto, head of the hybrid project. Dealing with the battery’s 300-volt-plus output in the factory is even more complex than dealing with it on the road, where the car will isolate the battery if it detects any irregularities.

“On the production line, the vehicle is treated as live at all times, even though the battery is activated at the end of our mechanical line,” Otto says.

In the absence of specific local legislation governing motor manufacturing high-voltage components in South Africa, MBSA decided to adopt the same rigorous standards as its German counterparts. Special training in four levels is provided for anyone who comes into any contact with these vehi- cles. This ranges from simple awareness training right up to the few specialists certified to deal with energising and de-energising. In the unlikely event that a vehicle needs to go into the rectification area, a huge yellow cone on it signifies this and only trained electrical specialists are allowed to de-energise the vehicle so that others may work on it. Finally, testing involved building dozens of cars and driving them for thousands of kilometres.

Globally Mercedes-benz has eight PHEVS in its line-up, with two more to follow in 2017. In

the next two years, half of the R14,5 billion Daimler is investing in R& D will go into green technologies. The C350e is one of three plug-in hybrid derivatives launched locally this year, the other two being the S500e and GLE350E. Another lands here next year.

PHEVS score in both power and efficiency and (plus point for South Africa) they are suited to long journeys thanks to the combination of battery and internal combustion engine, says marketing director Selvin Govender. It’s important for next-generation cars to be attractive and fun to drive at the same time as being practical for everyday use and priced right, Govender points out. On that last score, the company’s heavy investments in manufacturing expertise, particularly on the battery side, should allow massive cost reductions in the near future, he says. “There’s further potential for our battery technology. Demand for our stationary storage systems is developing extremely positively.” Spin-off uses include storing electricity generated from solar, which can be collected by day and used for charging your vehicle overnight.

One big hurdle is development of an adequate charging infrastructure and the universal standards for charge points. “We don’t see isolated solutions from individual manufacturers as productive,” Govender says. “This is why we are engaging with other manufacturers, politicians and energy companies.” The 15 000 charging stations and 400 hydrogen charging stations over the next few years announced by German politicians will certainly provide a boost to alternative drives.

To its already smart hybrid drive, the C350e

adds some extra intelligence and anticipatory abilities that factor in destination and traffic situation as it plans the route. In other words, it can read road conditions and topography to work out the optimum energy strategy.

The haptic pedal is an initially disconcerting, but clever feature. In electric-only mode, the accelerator pedal will push back to indicate that you’ve reached the current maximum electric performance. Push past that point, and the combustion engine kicks in.

In hybrid driving, a double tap on the pedal from the Eco Assist function tells you to lift off. That decouples the combustion engine from the drivetrain and switches it off because it’s no longer needed. An additional clutch between the internal combustion engine and the electric motor does the decoupling, to allow “sailing” as well as EV operation. The hybrid module, of course, acts as an EV drive/energy recuperation sytem or as a boost when you need rapid acceleration.

Using the radar technology behind the standard proximity warning system, the car is able to identify a slower-moving vehicle ahead and send a double tap through the haptic accelerator pedal to tell the driver to lift off. The vehicle will adjust its deceleration automatically, using the electric motor. It’s a kind of adaptive cruise control that combines braking with recuperation and avoids braking, particularly in stop- start traffic.

In addition to driving style options we’ve become familiar with, such as Sport and Comfort, there are four operating modes that vary charging rate. E- Save, for example, minimises E-boost and maintains battery status to ensure electric power is available for city driving and charge mode allows the battery to be recharged while driving. Depending on mode, there can be a trade-off between recuperation and a longer coasting distance.

It’s almost eerie the way the car brakes as you approach a slower vehicle ahead, not just because it’s slowing down, but also because it’s recharging the hybrid battery pack. Which is useful, because before I reach Knysna, the reserve warning light is glowing ominously and I switch to EV drive. Over the course of three and a half hours and 280 kilometres since leaving PE, the C350e has consumed 8,6 litres per 100 kilometres. The open road really isn’t the hybrid’s ideal habitat, of course. Soon after filling up, the consumption picture changes radically: by Kaaimans, 48 kays up the road, the engine off indicator says we have travelled 19 of those without burning a drop.

And I feel like I’m finally beginning to get the hang of this haptic pedal. You start driving in a different way. Sometimes you feel like you shouldn’t be lifting off, but it tells you to. Near Wilderness, I got the double tap, which at the time seemed unusual because I was feathering the throttle pedal and I was on an uphill, too. Was that because I was entering a 60 km/h zone? Or because of the slower vehicle ahead? Or both? Is this car really smarter than I am?

There are so many questions because, besides being a car, Mercedes-benz’s C350e represents a breakthrough moment.

Not because it’s a hybrid, because those are fairly commonplace. And not because it necessarily shows us the way to the end game, though like others of its ilk it’s an attempt – flawed, transitional, but worthy nevertheless – at finding the kind of workable alternative the world is seeking. In part, it bridges a divide between our world and the one that lies ahead, the one where we use renewable energy because it makes sense.

At the Paris motor show in September, Mercedes-benz launched its new product brand for electric mobility, EQ – which stands for Electric Intelligence.

EQ is about a comprehensive electric mobility ecosystem of products, services, technologies and innovations. The spectrum ranges from electric vehicles to wall-boxes and charging services to home energy storage units.

To kick off the new brand, the company unveiled its close-to-production concept SUV, Generation E, as a bridgehead into the world of electric-only vehicles, which M-B sees as the future. Instead of regular vehicles repurposed with electric drive, though, the company will be creating a new generation of electric vehicles based on an architecture developed specifically for battery-electric models, scalable in every respect and usable across all models.

Two electric motors on the concept’s front and rear axles produce a total output of up to 300 kw. Smart operating systems allow a range of up to 500 kilometres.

Differences you will notice in the nextgen cars will include distinctive new external styling – notably the front end – and the use of touch user interfaces instead of switchgear.