Mercedes Benz B-Class Electric Drive

[agentsmith1612]

The design of the B-Klasse is in Germany only bought by seniors.
All B-Klasse drivers I saw were older than 60 years.

IMHO young people will not be affected by a B-Klasse Mercedes.

 

[Rifleman]

I was really hoping for a battery bigger than 28 kWh on this one. A 40 kWh battery in a smaller, lighter vehicle like this would actually be large enough for me to buy, while the 40 kWh Model S will likely end having to short of legs for my needs (its close, but would not leave enough room for battery degradation)

 

[Soflason]

why do all electric cars have to be so ugly (excluding tesla of course)

Pretty pricey, but Mercedes (at least) is trying to swap out it's ICE insides for a new, sharp-looking E-Supercar (gull wings reminding me of Model X's falcon wings a bit too) :wink:, some good pix in Wired:
The World All 740 HP of It | Autopia | Wired.com

 

[Doug_G]

I just cant see why they ruined it.

So many companies bring out utterly lame offerings that I can only assume they want​ them to fail, to prove that EVs don't have a market...

 

[60TTuC]

 

[Soflason]

Great video...

I always remember the power of an iconic brand validating it's inner DNA - whether it was a North Face winter coat or a Timberland boot, it had to have Gore-tex within... And whether it was PC or Mac, it needed "Intel Inside" -- wondering if soon, the same will hold true of EVs. It's only got EV credibility if it's got Tesla inside...

 

[Benz]

I just learned that the price will be starting at around 60,000 USD. This is much more than I was expecting it would be.
Here is the link of the video on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AccmX67tJJM

 

[Rifleman]

I just learned that the price will be starting at around 60,000 USD. This is much more than I was expecting it would be.
Here is the link of the video on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AccmX67tJJM

At that price, who would buy that over a Model S with about 2x the range, and about 2x the space, at a similar price?

 

[Bearman]

I checked the B-class stats in Europe where they come with gas and diesel engines and the 0 to 60 times are right in there for the EV version (that's not sold here).
Acceleration 0-62 mph (s)
(Diesel)B 220 CDI bluefficiency 8.3 s, 51.1 mpg(us)
(Diesel)B 180 CDI bluefficiency 10.9 s,, 53 mpg(us)
(Gasoline)B 200 BlueEFFICIENCY 8.6s, 38 mpg(us)

Maybe Mercedes didn't want the EV version to leave the others behind in smoke and settled for a slower acceleration, or maybe they just sized the battery for the price point and that's the performance you get from that size(28kwh).

Rifleman I wonder if Tesla removing the 40kwh from the market will make more room for the Rav4 EV and this Merc?
I agree that 60k is a bit steep and will probably be less.

 

[Jkam]

A "quick charge" in 2 hours? They should've gotten on board with the super chargers.

It seems like all the technology Tesla is supplying to Mercedes and Toyota is at least a tick or two below the capabilities of a Tesla. Is it intentional or do Toyota/Mercedes put limiting factors on Tesla based on the rest of the car design?

 

[vfx]

It seems like all the technology Tesla is supplying to Mercedes and Toyota is at least a tick or two below the capabilities of a Tesla. Is it intentional or do Toyota/Mercedes put limiting factors on Tesla based on the rest of the car design?

Or are the cars hamstrung by being ICE retrofits?

 

[TonyWilliams]

Does anybody know how many of these need to be sold in California for CARB-ZEV credits? I'm guessing not too many, maybe a few hundred to a thousand?

I'm too lazy to look up how many oil cars Daimler / Mercedes Benz sells in California. Ok, I looked it up: it looks like they sell about 10% of GM, so I'll guess about 10,000 cars per year in California.

 

[Rifleman]

Rifleman I wonder if Tesla removing the 40kwh from the market will make more room for the Rav4 EV and this Merc?

It will open up a little bit of room for the Merc, but honestly, the with a battery as small as the Merc has, it was never really competing with the Model S in the first place. The Rav4 is a different story, however. With the 40 kWh Model S going away, and Toyota routinely selling the Rav4 EV for $40,000 before tax credits, the RAV4 EV really is the hidden gem of the EV world. It is a shame that it is only a compliance car, and is not being marketed nation wide. I know if it was available in Ohio, it would be a very strong contender for me when I turn in my Volt in 30 months. In fact, if it was available in Ohio 6 months ago when I leased my Volt, I would probably be driving a Rav4 EV now instead of the Volt.

 

[FalconNinetyD]

Mercedes sold over 24K cars in the US in February:
Mercedes-Benz USA February Sales Hit Record Highs At 24,051 -- MONTVALE, N.J., March 1, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --

I'm guessing at least 15-20% of those went to California, so for the year I would guess the # would be closer to 40,000 -50,000...

 

[stopcrazypp]

It seems like all the technology Tesla is supplying to Mercedes and Toyota is at least a tick or two below the capabilities of a Tesla. Is it intentional or do Toyota/Mercedes put limiting factors on Tesla based on the rest of the car design?

For the performance, my guess would be that they are FWD cars and Toyota/Mercedes may want to avoid torque steer. They are essentially compliance cars so they won't be putting in the engineering to make the cars handle the extra power to the front wheels.

 

[AustinPowers]

why do all electric cars have to be so ugly (excluding tesla of course)

What's so ugly about the B-Class? And by the way it is not an electric car per se, the B-Class has been around for years. The e-version is just another model. This car was never conceived as a pure EV in the first place, it just fits some needs like convenient placing for a large battery.

The B-class is very popular with senior citizens here as it is compact enough to be easily drive- and parkable, yet spacious enough to transport all your stuff from A to B, it has high seating making for easy and convenient entry and egress as well as good visibility. And, as many people of that age are quite status-concious, it is a Mercedes, which may sound unimportant to you, but to many that Mercedes star is quite an important statement.

So though it might not win any design contests, the B-Class certainly is much more than what you call an ugly EV. But of course, I had to learn, minivans (like station wagons) just aren't very popular in the US. And speaking of popular, I just looked it up: even though the B-Class is by far not Mercedes' most important model, they sold more than 150,000 of them worldwide - in 2012 alone!

 

[gregincal]

What's so ugly about the B-Class? And by the way it is not an electric car per se, the B-Class has been around for years. The e-version is just another model. This car was never conceived as a pure EV in the first place, it just fits some needs like convenient placing for a large battery.

The B-class is very popular with senior citizens here as it is compact enough to be easily drive- and parkable, yet spacious enough to transport all your stuff from A to B, it has high seating making for easy and convenient entry and egress as well as good visibility. And, as many people of that age are quite status-concious, it is a Mercedes, which may sound unimportant to you, but to many that Mercedes star is quite an important statement.

So though it might not win any design contests, the B-Class certainly is much more than what you call an ugly EV. But of course, I had to learn, minivans (like station wagons) just aren't very popular in the US. And speaking of popular, I just looked it up: even though the B-Class is by far not Mercedes' most important model, they sold more than 150,000 of them worldwide - in 2012 alone!

It may be practical, but that doesn't mean it's pretty. I'd prefer an EV based on the new A class about a hundred times more than the B class, which I've always thought was ugly.

 

[AustinPowers]

It may be practical, but that doesn't mean it's pretty. I'd prefer an EV based on the new A class about a hundred times more than the B class, which I've always thought was ugly.

Beauty lies in the eye of the beholder. But honestly, I didn't say it was particularly pretty, but it's far from ugly. A Fiat Multipla, a first generation Renault Twingo, a VW Polo limousine, a SssangYong Korando, those are truly ugly cars. And for my taste, even a Fisker Karma is horrid in design. I know, that's debate-able, but I just hate that car.
It is true though that the Model S is a beautiful machine, no matter how you look at it - from the outside ;-)

 

[wycolo]

> it's far from ugly. A Fiat Multipla, a first generation Renault Twingo, a VW Polo limousine, a SssangYong Korando, those are truly ugly cars. [AustinPowers]

And thank you for not posting photos of these!! I could dig out other examples from the stacks of AutoWeek, who used to relish in such, but I won't. Best to let bygones . .

I bought my Roadster from a Fisker dealer and when I went to actually see it, it was parked right next to their showroom Karma: the Sublime & the Ridiculous. I had never seen a Karma before except on the Half-Men tv show, where they apparently carefully chose the camera angles. Sitting alongside the Tesla, however, Game Over!! Blutarsky vs World Class. But some guy traded the Roadster in for the Karma and I hope he had some fun with it.

If the Roadster has a 'bad' angle to it, then I've yet to discover that. And the dark blue B Class- not bad at all.
--

 

[Matthew049]

yeah, pretty bland looking car for a mercedes. i would've expected better too..