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Powering a New Class of Hybrids

Mercedes has announced plans to produce the first hybrid cars with
powerful lithium-ion batteries. The cars won't roll off the assembly
lines until 2009, but the Germans are hoping to break Japanese
dominance of the electric-motor market.

Mercedes-Benz will unveil a new car battery this week. It uses about
as much space as a conventional lead battery (meant only to start
engines), but it packs a whopping 120 volts — about ten times the
power of its more ordinary cousin — and it will be used, starting
next year, in the luxury Mercedes S-Class line of hybrids.

The S-Class will be the world's first

series-production hybrid car
with an electric motor powered by a lithium-ion battery. Daimler hopes
to position itself on the cutting edge of hybrid technology, a field
where European carmakers, for years, have lagged behind their Japanese
competitors.

The hybrid concept uses both a fuel motor and an electric motor. The
electric motor stores braking energy and releases it during
acceleration. This technique improves fuel economy, especially in city
traffic. The magnitude of the effect is determined mainly by the
battery, which has to absorb and release energy as quickly as
possible, since the braking and acceleration phases are transitory.

Lithium-ion batteries are ideal for this purpose, a fact reflected in
the astonishing numbers Mercedes manages to achieve. The S400
BlueHybrid comes equipped with a 279-horsepower V6 engine supported by
a 20-horsepower electric motor. This engine duo delivers a top speed
of 250 kilometers per hour (155 mph) and 0-100 km/h acceleration in
only 7.2 seconds, and based on the European standard test, it consumes
only 7.9 liters of premium gasoline every 100 kilometers (about 30
miles per gallon).

When it comes to fuel economy, this is a world record for luxury cars
with internal combustion engines. The conventional Mercedes S 350,
from which the hybrid model was derived, consumes 10.1 liters every
100 kilometers (23 mpg). The hybrid model is therefore more than 20
percent more efficient than its conventional counterpart — and the
power for its electric motor comes from a briefcase-sized battery. The
hybrids built currently by Toyota and Honda come with nickel-metal
hydride (NiMH) batteries, which take up a substantial share of the
trunk.

By premiering this lithium-ion technology, both Mercedes and European
industry suppliers are also celebrating a highly symbolic interim
victory, after years of lagging embarrassingly behind. The battery
cells are not from Asia; they're produced by French supplier Saft. The
hybrid technology was integrated by Continental, the automotive system
supplier which will also outfit BMW's flagship 7 Series with hybrid
motors. Continental CEO Karl-Thomas Neumann calls it an "important
breakthrough."

Car Batteries, Compared

Continental is developing batteries capable of storing 10 times as
much energy as the current model, or about 17 kilowatt hours. The new
models will weigh only 100 kilograms (220 lbs) and will enable a small
electric car to travel about 100 kilometers (62 miles). Substantially
higher energy densities have been achieved in the laboratory.

Mercedes also plans to position itself at the head of the class in the
electric car market. A small series of all-electric Smart cars will
begin rolling off the assembly lines next year, and in 2010 Mercedes
plans to produce an electric version of its A-Class subcompact car.
Both will use lithium-ion batteries.

Bringing Down the Cost of Hybrids

This form of energy storage, though, is still expensive. A lithium-ion
battery for a hybrid car costs about €1,500 ($2,175), while
considerably larger models used in all-electric cars can be 10 times
as expensive. The high price is principally due to the current low
production volume. But Continental's analyses predict a world market
of two million new hybrid cars in 2012, which would drastically reduce
production costs and improve market opportunities for electric cars.

This logic makes sense to other executives in the industry. A wave of
hybrid and electric cars will enter the market in the next few years.
Peugeot and Citroën plan to focus on hybrid and electric automotive
technology at the Paris Auto Show in October, while Renault,
Mitsubishi and General Motors are preparing to introduce their own
electric cars.

There is one glaring exception to the hybrid rush — Volkswagen,
Europe's largest carmaker. CEO Martin Winterkorn may have announced
that the electric car is the wave of the future, but he has hardly
followed through with any significant action.

Just last week the company unveiled the latest incarnation of its
top-selling model, the Golf, but neither hybrid nor electric options
are in the cards. In fact, VW's activities have been limited to a
small research project.

The only VW model for which a hybrid version is being developed is the
company's Touareg SUV. After numerous glitches, VW now plans to
introduce the vehicle in 2010. Developers at the company's
headquarters in the northern German city of Wolfsburg are still using
nickel-metal hydride (NiMH) batteries.

Ironically enough, the supplier is Japanese. Honda's usual supplier,
Sanyo, manufactures the (now-antiquated) battery that VW intends to
use.

Der Spiegel,

Translated from the German by Christopher Sultan

Editor's Note: We don't know if AMG Mercedes-Benz intends to get in the electric car business. I can't image they are not at least taking a look at future technologies for high-performance vehicles. We'll let you know if we hear of anything. Does anyone know of any research projects at AMG?

Tags: electric car, fuel economy, hybrid cars, hybrid technology, lithium ion battery, lithium-ion batteries, luxury, mercedes hybrids, Mercedes-Benz, s-class