Mercedes, Smart to Sell Electric Cars in 2010
Over the last few months, several big car makers, including Nissan, Subaru and Mitsubishi, have announced plans to produce all-electric cars before the end of the decade, or soon after. Now Daimler has announced that it to plans to jump on the growing EV bandwagon, with plans to roll-out a Mercedes-Benz electric car in 2010. According to Chief Executive Dieter Zetsche, the company also plans to offer an electric Smart car in the same year.
At this stage, it’s unclear whether the cars will be based on an existing model, or on a completely new platform. If the former, it’s likely that the Mercedes EV will be based on either an A-Class or B-Class, as is the case with their fuel-cell prototype (pictured below).
- » See also: Prius Not Your Thing? Meet The Electric Raptor
- » Get Gas 2.0 by RSS or sign up by email.
As far as the Smart model goes, there is currently a fleet of 100 first-generation Smart electric cars running in London, and it’s a fair bet that the new cars will be at least roughly based on these.
No decision has been made regarding the price for the EV models. According to Zetsche, “That depends on whether we sell the batteries with the car or lease them. The willingness (on the part of consumers) to pay more is limited.”
The company is also in talks with Shai Agassi’s Project Better Place regarding his plans to introduce large scale EV recharging infrastructures at several locations across the world.
Posts Related to Electric Cars:
- California Based Ecopreneur Aims to Bring Electric Cars to the Masses
- McCain Proposes $300 Million Prize to Developer of “Super Battery”
- Th!nk Ox: An Electric Car With Style and Smarts
- The All-Electric (EV) CitiCar: Powered by the Sun
- Mindset Six50 Electric Car MIxes Gas, Li-Ion and Solar Power
- Company Turns Familiar Gas Cars Into Electric Vehicles
- An Electric Car With Muscle: The 175MPGe X1 Prototype by Wrightspeed Inc.
- Inflatable Electric Cars: Surround Your Body in Bliss
Image Credits - Mercedes-Benz and Wikimedia Commons
With all of the electric, hybrid, and other alternative fuel auto companies popping up, it seems that the big auto manufactures will start buying them out so they can put their own brand on them.
It will be interesting to see if this is the case or if the big auto manufactures will develop their own vehicles.
We need electric cars now! Not 2010.
Mercedes, Smart to Sell Electric Cars in 2010 | nerdd.net…
\r\nDaimler has announced that it is jumping on the growing electric car bandwagon, with plans to ro…
This is great news, we need more car companies to get onboad. Who is going to make the people’s version of the Tesla?
http://www.z-car.com/frm
What? Mercedes jumping on the “smart car” bandwagon? Who woulda thunk it!
JT
http://www.FireMe.to/udi
OK…. you want electric cars then i guess u want to pay the rising electric bills, just another problem.
I will be buying as soon as it is available in my locale. Sell me one. I dare you. Until then, I continue to drive & repair Al Bundy’s old Dodge & am boycotting buying a new internal combustion.
Electric cars may seem like a good idea, but I’d like to know the output of energy it will take to produce them. Building cars is a dirty business. Did you know that it takes more energy to produce a Prius than a Hummer?
This would stop the high fuel prices, but god help us when it pushes up energy prices
Electric cars are indeed needed by now not on 2010…the world needs it now, because fuel prices is still increasing and I think this electric cars can help our problem on global warming…I guess…