The electrification plans of Mercedes-Benz are going full steam ahead, with the German automaker confirming in an interview with Reuters that it is expecting to have factories exclusively producing electric vehicles by the second half of this decade.
According to production chief Joerg Burzer, Mercedes-Benz foresees some of its production lines within car factories switching entirely to electric even sooner than expected. He said that building a whole new battery-electric vehicle factory takes time, but they have taken another approach regarding this matter.
Burzer explained that Mercedes-Benz will certainly have "some lines producing only electric vehicles in the next few years." He added that they also see whole factories switching to electric production, but that topic is reserved for the decade's second half.
Mercedes-Benz may be ramping up its production of electric vehicles, but the company is still steering clear of building EV-only plants, with the premium automaker opting to keep its production lines flexible instead in line with market demand.
Mercedes-Benz will launch its much-awaited EQE model in Bremen later this year, with Beijing and Tuscaloosa soon to follow. Mercedes first revealed the EQE model at the IAA Mobility show last September.
Mercedes has high hopes for this particular model, an electric adaptation of the E-class. The German brand is looking for the EQE model, which has a peak range of 660 kilometers, to boost Mercedes-Benz's EV unit sales as the company shifts investment towards electric-only production platforms and away from producing vehicles with internal combustion engines.
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Burzer said that with the ramp-up of EQE production in Bremen, Germany, and later in Beijing, China, Mercedes is now coming into a segment where it can deliver at far higher volumes. Mercedes-Benz has been lagging behind its rivals in terms of EV production, with battery-electric vehicles accounting for just 2.3 percent of the company's sales in 2021.
That figure rises to 11 percent when considering plug-in hybrids as well. Hybrids are vehicles that have both a gas engine and a battery. Mercedes-Benz has set a lofty target for 2025, with the carmaker expecting electric vehicles and hybrid electric cars to make up 50 percent of its sales by then. Mercedes-Benz expects fully electric cars to account for most of those sales, with the company reducing its production of hybrids in the next few years.
All existing models of Mercedes-Benz are being built in factories that are also producing internal combustion vehicles, with batteries of those electric and hybrid vehicles transported by rail from the company's main plant in Sindelfingen to various plants in Hungary and Germany.
Burzer said that would change down the line with Mercedes-Benz, possibly bringing battery assembly and production nearer to auto plants as the design of cars develops to integrate the battery more closely into the vehicle.
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