Image Credit: Chris DeMorro / Gas2

Mercedes B-Class EV Comes With 124-Mile Range, Tesla Technology, Multiple Braking Options

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Some details on the Mercedes-Benz B-Class electric vehicle have been presented in a new Mercedes B-Class Electric Drive video. Unfortunately, it’s in German, but we’ve got more details on the Mercedes B-Class Electric Drive below the video.

The Mercedes-Benz B-Class EV will come with three regenerative braking options (three levels of regenerative brakes). It can accelerate from 0 to 62 MPH (0 to 100 km/h) in 7.9 seconds, which is comparable to the average new car, and it has an electronically limited top speed of 99 mph (160 km/h).

Hold on…99 mph?! That is well below average. How could Mercedes-Benz expect people to buy something with such a low top speed?

Practically speaking, this is not an issue, as 99 mph is above the speed limits of almost all roads. So whether your car’s top speed is 99 mph or 200 mph, it won’t matter on the road, as you cannot legally go up to either speed anyway. Of course, this isn’t the case on the Autobahn. And some people may want to drive above 99 mph even if they’re not legally allowed to.

Electric B-Class/B-Klasse.
Image Credit: Chris DeMorro / Gas2.


Apart from that matter, as Autoblog summarizes in its rough translation of the video, this vehicle’s powertrain comes from Tesla Motors, and its 130 kW (174 HP) electric motor achieves 340 Newton-meters of torque (250 foot pounds) and should provide a range of 124 miles (200 km) per charge.

Charge time for its 28 kWh battery pack is 1.5 hours at 400 volts (to provide 100 km of the range).

We know that Tesla Motors has developed the best electric vehicles (or even cars of any kind) in the world, so it is a clear plus that the vehicle is using Tesla technology.

Daimler writes:

Mercedes-Benz has collaborated with TESLA Motors to develop the electric B Class. The two companies share many years of cooperation in the field of electric mobility. As a shareholder in TESLA, Daimler has also been represented on TESLA’s supervisory board since 2009. The battery for the predecessor model of the smart fortwo electric drive, for instance, comes from TESLA. For the B-Class Electric Drive, Mercedes-Benz is once again availing itself of the extensive know-how available from the electric car pioneer and is using the TESLA drive system in its own vehicle.

The Mercedes B-Class EV should be available in Germany by the end of 2014. At some point, the B-Class EV is also supposed to arrive in America.

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Nicholas Brown

Has a keen interest in physics-intensive topics such as electricity generation, refrigeration and air conditioning technology, energy storage, and geography. His website is: Kompulsa.com.

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