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Daimler Plans Electric Mercedes in 2010
22 June 2008
Daimler plans to have an electric Mercedes in addition to an electric smart car on the market by 2010, according to CEO Dieter Zetsche in an interview with the Frankfurter Allgemeine.
I am sure that the combustion engine has 20, perhaps 30 more years. Our industry has had Otto and Diesel [engines] for more than a century. Now we find ourselves in a second phase of invention. With DiesOtto [earlier post] and BlueTec, we develop the best technologies and we are also working on new technologies like the electric drive. There will be an overlap.
Zetsche also said that Daimler was in talks with Shai Agassi over possible participation in Project Better Place.
June 22, 2008 in Brief | Permalink | Comments (8) | TrackBack (0)
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Benz’s talk to Mr. Agassi is likely about charging infrastructure. It will save money if Benz’s EVs are engineered from the start to accommodate international standards for charging and project better place may very well be the one that make these standards simply because they are first.
So the following important car makers are now known to deliver pure EVs before ultimo 2011.
Benz
Subaro
Mitsubishi
Nissan
Renault
BYD
Now that the ice has clearly been broken we should expect all the other car makers to jump into EVs as well. The thing is that big companies are very risk averse and often do not dare to do anything new unless other competitors do it as well. They are run by wage earners and they know that they will never be blamed for doing something that may go wrong if their competitors are doing it also. However, doing something new without any other doing it and if it goes wrong that will end their career. Someone needs to break that ice and these are the companies listed above.
Posted by: Henrik | Jun 22, 2008 5:32:48 AM
They have to breal the ice=ICE..
Henrik, I think that DB have almost lost the race In EV
They are underestimate that The EV TZUNAMI is very close ..
Posted by: pinki | Jun 22, 2008 9:33:10 AM
So, everyone's jumping on the EV wagon now in spite of the negative efforts of tyrannical Bush administration. If it were not for Bush we could all be driving EVs, PHEVs right now. Could be sitting back, enjoying new revenue from green business, cleaner air and downsized living. But no, the progress of the planet has been held hostage by Bush, Chainey, Condescenda and the trilats who want us to stay addicted to black hole of oil. Next time... elect better actors; (just not Al "pay me" Gore.)
Posted by: sulleny | Jun 22, 2008 10:27:52 AM
Sulleny:
If you check the fiqures I believe you will find that the Bush administration,thru mainly DOE and other government organizations, have contributed more money than all the previous administrations combined to alternate energy research.
Posted by: JIMR | Jun 22, 2008 2:01:50 PM
Looks to me like Bush's actions in the Middle East did a great amount to help push prices up. We should be thanking him for having a hand in pricing oil such that alternatives are more attractive now.
Posted by: | Jun 22, 2008 5:09:00 PM
Quit blaming the government for doing or not doing something. Awkward and difficult transition moments happen in ANY sea change and assigning blame is not productive.
Posted by: NCyder | Jun 23, 2008 7:05:01 AM
Sulleny,
I've been working on EVs for over 20 years. That encompasses 5 presidential administrations in the US: Reagan, Bush I, Clinton, Clinton, and Bush II. Why should it be considered the exclusive province of George W. Bush to be blamed for the failure of EVs to become reality?
It isn't government's responsibility to be commercially and technically innovative.
Perhaps your comments, like so many others on this site, are more pertinent to a political blog than one concerned with green car technology.
Posted by: Roy | Jun 25, 2008 5:29:03 AM
They already had one in 1998 - an EV A Classs with a 30kWh Zebra battery giving 120 miles range they boasted. 1400 nameplate cycles on the battery, no cold weather problems, cabin heat from battery cooling air.
How dare these (unprintable) so and so's crow about the Electric Smart car they say will have 12 years after the Zebra A Class with lower range, extortionately expensive dangerous LiIon batteries if you can get the Lithium. They have already destroyed an excellent EV product they had that with the latest Zebra would now have 180 miles range.
Any real engineers left in Daimler Benz whose brains have not been sucked out and replaced with cosmic gel?
I am not amused.
Posted by: Emphyrio | Jun 25, 2008 1:23:24 PM
