Mercedes-Benz presenting Concept B-Class E-CELL Plus extended-range electric vehicle
13 September 2011
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| The Concept B-Class E-CELL PLUS. Click to enlarge. |
Mercedes-Benz is presenting its first electric vehicle with Range Extender at the 2011 Frankfurt International Motor Show: the Concept B-Class E-CELL PLUS. Equipped with a Li-ion battery pack from Deutsche Accumotive (a joint venture of Daimler and Evonik), the E-CELL PLUS has a battery-only range of up to 100 km (62 miles). A 50 kW (67 hp), 1.0-liter three-cylinder turbocharged gasoline engine range extender delivers a total range of up to 600 km (373 miles).
The electric drive generates a peak power output of 100 kW and a continuous output of 70 kW. At low speeds, the engine charges the battery via a generator. At higher speeds—e.g., on prolonged highway stretches—it additionally serves as a driving engine, acting on the front wheels together with the electric motor via a newly developed automatic transmission. In combined driving mode the vehicle emits 32 grams of CO2 per kilometer.
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| Concept B-Class E-CELL PLUS. Click to enlarge. |
The two drive units are compact and are housed in the engine compartment at the front together with the transmission and the generator. The lithium-ion battery pack and the fuel tank are located in a false floor at the rear—the “Energy Space”—which has been developed specially for alternative drives. For other drive variants it is also possible to install gas or hydrogen tanks here, for example.
Activation and deactivation of the combustion engine take place fully automatically; the drive unit selects the most fuel-efficient mode in every driving situation. With the Concept B-Class E-CELL PLUS there are basically two operating modes, depending on the battery charge status:
When the battery possesses sufficient energy, the vehicle runs locally emission-free on electric power alone. The battery can be charged using any standard domestic power outlet or at a public charging station, by means of the charge socket integrated in the rear bumper and the 3.3 kW on-board charger. Rapid charging is also possible with this vehicle, enabling a charging time on the order of one hour.
When the battery charge status drops below a certain limit, the combustion engine is activated (Range Extender mode).
Acceleration from 0 to 100 km/h in approximately 11 seconds and the top speed of 150 km/h (93 mph) are both attainable in either operating mode. In order to ensure the most efficient possible motoring, two variants are possible, depending on the vehicle's speed:
Below a speed of around 60 km/h, the combustion engine and generator attend to on-board power generation (series mode). In this case, the combustion engine is run in the most fuel-efficient mode.
At speeds of over 60 km/h the combustion engine acts as a driving engine together with the electric motor (parallel mode), transmitting the generated power to the front axle. Any excess power generated by the combustion engine is used to charge the battery and to run the ancillary units.
When the car goes into production, remote checking and remote configuration of the vehicle will be possible by means of the Vehicle Homepage. The driver will be able to access his or her vehicle via the internet, using PC or smartphone. In this way, it will be possible to check the current charge status of the lithium-ion battery or to verify the vehicle's current range on a map.
A smart charging feature will allow the customer to select a desired time for the beginning of a journey. The system then ensures that the battery is fully charged and, if desired, that the vehicle is air-conditioned at this point in time. The Vehicle Homepage offers further convenience functions, such as a route planner designed specifically for electric vehicles.
An interesting concept PHEV with a much smaller but large enough genset. Lighter vehicles could use a micro car 600 cc ICE as a genset.
Posted by: HarveyD | 13 September 2011 at 07:40 AM
This is nice but i will wait for an hydrogen fuelcell car with an hydrogen water electrolizer inside instead of this compromise. this is not the most efficient car platform there is and im wondering why someone will pay for that while these manufacturers already found the best car platform there is namely hydrogen fuelcell. I know that they said the problem it was that these is no hydrogen infrastructure so they have to rely on electric charging and good old gasoline but the range with an hydrogen fuelcell car is so high that it take just one hydrogen station in major big cities to cover the needs for hydrogen fueling at the beginning.
Posted by: A D | 13 September 2011 at 09:07 AM
FC vehicles are still a costly approach to clean transportation. On-board hydrogen production is even more costly and requires larger more costly FC. Could a combo smaller batteries/FC or supercaps/FC be a possible/ eventual lower cost solution? The ideal long term solution may be pure EVs with fixed and on-the-move wireless charging systems.
Posted by: HarveyD | 13 September 2011 at 09:15 AM
Seems very sensible - enough acceleration and a top speed 20kph above the French motorway limit.
And of course very green.
Question is - will people buy it.
People seem to demand power well beyond their needs - especially in maximum speed (which they almost never use).
Mind you, if you were able to get people to agree that 0-60 in 11 sec and 150 kph max was a viable performance spec, you could make all vehicles more efficient.
Nonetheless, there is a useful debate as to what performance level is required for decent mobility - and I wish them well.
Posted by: mahonj | 13 September 2011 at 09:34 AM
...and a top speed 20kph above the French motorway limit.
And a top speed about 50 kph below German highway speeds ;)
Posted by: Arne | 14 September 2011 at 12:16 AM
Yesterday we were driving on the right lane at about 10 kph above the speed limit on a local highway and a young driver past us (on the right paved shoulder) doing about 150 kpm. After that he zig zag to the extreme left lane and back to the right lane and the paved shoulder a few more times. Apparently, this is part of the utmost FUN driving.
Posted by: HarveyD | 14 September 2011 at 08:59 AM
Was it a long downhill?
Was it a Kia Optima Hybrid ?
That was Wayne Gerdes.
Posted by: ToppaTom | 16 September 2011 at 09:08 PM