It looks like Mercedes has caught hybrid fever. In August, the company launched its Mercedes S400 mild hybrid—the first hybrid from a European automaker and the first hybrid vehicle to use a lithium ion battery. Even more impressive, Dieter Zetsche, CEO of Daimler, is promising a hybrid version of each of Mercedes’s high-volume cars and a plug-in hybrid in 2012.
The growing list of part- or pure-electric cars to be displayed at next week’s Frankfurt Auto Show establishes a new litmus test for green cars at auto shows: Cars without plugs are behind the times.
The Mercedes Benz S400 Hybrid is the world’s first mass produced car with a lithium ion battery. It’s the first Mercedes with a hybrid drive. And, with a price tag likely to approach or exceed $100,000, it’s going to be an ultra-niche vehicle. We achieved 29.3 miles per gallon in a 150-mile mixed driving course though Southern Germany.
Daimler AG, maker of Mercedes-Benz luxury cars, is suing Cobasys for failing to provide hybrid battery packs as agreed for a planned Mercedes-Benz gasoline-electric SUV. An inside source told HybridCars.com that the contract between Cobasys and the hybrid partnership between GM, Daimler, and BMW is “the largest stumbling block in getting this product to market, and hopefully will not sour the North American market on American hybrids.”
Mercedes-Benz will launch an S-Class hybrid equipped with a lithium ion battery in 2009. Dr. Thomas Weber, who is responsible for research at Mercedes-Benz said, “What we have here is a groundbreaking key technology that is going to be a decisive factor for the future success of the automotive industry.”
