Mercedes Puts Tesla Technology In Its B-Class Electric Car

Mercedes-Benz’s first mainstream electric car has Tesla technology under the hood, but the company is not flaunting this fact. While Bayerische Motoren Werke AG (BMW) wrapped its competing emission-free model in futuristic carbon fiber, Daimler AG (DAI)’s Mercedes unit was designed with an electric motor and battery inside its existing van-like B-class hatchback. The only signs that it is electric are some small decals and the blue trim on the mirrors and front grille.

The idea of teaming up with Tesla Motors Inc. is to allow Mercedes to transfer some of the hipster aura of the electric-vehicle pioneer to the B-Class while avoiding the massive risk of spending billions of dollars on developing a technology that may or may not prove to be popular with consumers.

“The B-Class electric is a low-cost and low-risk solution for Daimler,” said Stefan Bratzel, director of the Center of Automotive Management at the University of Applied Sciences in Bergisch Gladback, Germany. He further explained that due to the fact that the electric B-Class shares an assembly line with the gasoline and diesel versions, Mercedes doesn’t have to sell a fixed number of vehicles in order to cover its costs.

Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche offered details of the company’s plans to the press at an event on the Spanish island of Mallorca. “You can reasonably say that nobody today is making a battery-powered vehicle that’s economically viable in its own right,” he said. “Manufacturers will not see a return within a reasonable time on the billions they’re investing now.

Zetsche suggested that despite the purpose-built design of its competitor, BMW’s i3, the range, performance and interior space are very similar to those found in the B-Class, but that the effort required by Daimler’s was “dramatically smaller”. However, not surprisingly, BMW disagrees with this claim, explaining its view that creating a new electric car has distinct advantages over re-fitting existing models. “Weight, driveability and range are in ideal proportions,” said Mathias Schmidt, a spokesman for the Munich-based BMW.

The emission-free B-Class will arrive in showrooms in Germany on November 29. Zetsche says that the range of the B-Class is about 200 kilometers, or 124 miles, and that the price will be comparable to the i3.

One big question is how this offering will be seen by consumers. The demand for electric vehicles has not been developing as quickly as some manufacturers had hoped, with high vehicle prices and concerns about being stuck with a dead battery during a trip causing car buyers to be weary.

Hans-Peter Wodniok, an analyst with German-based Fairesearch GmbH, feels that these latest vehicles may prove to increase the sales of electric cars dramatically. “The B-Class addresses a much larger number of potential customers,” said Wodniok. “The current attempts by Daimler and BMW are far more promising than Renault’s Twizy or the Smart. The B-Class or i3 are serious vehicles that also look like cars.”

It will be very interesting to see how consumers react as the vehicles roll out to showrooms, and the industry will be watching closely to see if there is a significant effect on the popularity of electric cars among car buyers.