Mercedes-Benz Concept CLA Class. Image courtesy of Mercedes-Benz.

5,000 Mercedes Company Cars In Germany Electrifying — But Not Mandated (Yet)

November 14, 2023November 15, 20235 months ago Zachary Shahan 1 Comment

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There’s one proven way to get people to love electric cars — put them behind the wheel of electric cars. So, when it comes to getting an auto company’s many employees onboard with EVs, and better understanding the benefits of EVs, there has been one particularly useful tool — making company cars electric cars. Automaker employees are better at evangelizing, designing electric cars, and working through the challenges that come from the switch to electric cars if they drive electric company cars. So, it is heartening to see that Mercedes-Benz has decided to transition all 5,000 of its company cars in Germany electric.

This doesn’t come from a Mercedes-Benz press release, but through “company circles” according to Automobilwoche. And it appears that Mercedes-Benz has somewhat confirmed and somewhat corrected the German media outlet on the news.

Electric Mercedes — Rick’s electric mercedes and my Model 3. Photo courtesy of Majella Waterworth.

In general, instead of the common Mercedes-Benz E-Class going to company employees, they will be getting the Mercedes EQE or other new electric cars. However, this is not yet being mandated, the company claims. “Our aim is to be ready to go fully electric by the end of the decade — wherever market conditions allow,” the outlet reports Mercedes-Benz stating. “This claim also applies without restriction to our own company car fleet,” the company adds. “With the strategic step from ‘Electric first’ to ‘Electric only’, Mercedes-Benz is accelerating the transformation into an emission-free and software-driven future.” All of that said, there are no employee mandates in place on driving an electric car. “However, it is wrong that Mercedes-Benz requires eligible employees in Germany to drive fully electric vehicles (BEVs) as company cars in the future.”

So, the transition to electric cars is certainly underway at the luxury Germany automaker, and the company must be incentivizing the employee switch to electric powertrains somehow. And many employees are happy to shift into a more fun, more convenient, more modern electric car. “However, more and more colleagues are voluntarily choosing a vehicle with an electric drive: The number of fully electric vehicles (BEVs) in the company car fleet more than doubled from 2021 to 2022 and more than quadrupled from 2022 to 2023. Currently, almost every third company car is fully electric and around 40 percent are plug-in hybrids.”

33% EV adoption is still a high rate anywhere (well, anywhere except Norway). Keep it up, Mercedes.