OCT 05

German carmakers are catching up to what other manufacturers are doing, and seem to be coming out with several models incorporating electric drive. According to reports from the Paris Auto Show, an electric drive Mercedes B-Class will be brought to the US market. And a hybrid Volkswagen Jetta is also scheduled to be available for the 2013 model year. An all-electric VW Golf (which will be based on the newly introduced 2014 Golf) is expected to be released as part of the 2015 line, as well.

The concept version of the Mercedes B-Class shown in Paris has almost 125 miles (200 kilometers) of range and can reach a top speed of 93 miles per hour (150 kph). The vehicle uses lithium-ion batteries for power storage, but the capacity of the batteries has not been released. The battery powered B-Class will be available in 2014.

The hybrid Jetta has a 1.4 liter gas engine along with a 27 HP electric motor. It can travel at speeds up to 44 miles per hour (70 kph) in all-electric mode, and has an estimated combined fuel economy of 45 MPG. Deliveries of the hybrid Jetta are slated to begin at the end of this year.

These moves come even as other automakers are pulling back from pure electric drive vehicles. Even if they aren't a large part of these manufacturers' lines, the electrification of automobiles will continue, and this will give these manufacturers further insight and customer feedback about how these vehicles are or are not meeting consumer needs.

Comments (10)

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What an irony
written by Funtom, October 05, 2012

Remember when Prius became the most admired, green-movement manifest car a few years back? At that time, a German car maker rep sounded they won't produce a hybrid as the conception is flawed by design. A full-electric car is the way to go.

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@Funtom, Low-rated comment [Show]

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written by Joris, October 06, 2012

@starpul

"The only way to solve this problem..."

There is never just one way to solve a problem. What if public transportation would be excellent and cheap? Owning a car is getting more expensive by the week, so offering a better alternative would probably get a lot of people out of their cars.

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Plug-In Diesel Electric Hybrid Jetta
written by Ottar, October 07, 2012

Give me a Plug-In Diesel Electric Hybrid Jetta getting 75-100 mpg and 50 miles to a charge and we can talk Germany.

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Half True
written by David Hurt, October 07, 2012

I agree that a sudden shift towards full-electric cars would shake our infrastructure to its core. Any sort of "Sudden Shift" does that.

Even so, the shift would realistically create a dramatic increase in the demand (and therefore Price) of Electricity. The increased production would happen, but it would occur due to increased revenue opportunity due to large prices, not the other way around.

That says to me that rather than preventing ownership, which sounds over-intrusive and very undesirable, the 'proper' governmental solution is to regulate the development of these new power generation plants into the Renewable Energy sector.

If the price of electricity is high enough to incentivise that kind of growth, and it would be with any sort of 'sudden shift,' that Green growth would happen, and it would be great.

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written by Miguel, October 10, 2012

Tesla Motors has all the answers. On top of creating an uberawesome futuristic electric car with 2 trunks, they hope to build solar powered charging stations that will be free for life.

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Tesla and solar powered stations
written by Lawrence Leichtman, October 17, 2012

But until there is a better infrastructure, owning all electric cars in the Western US is impractical. I would love to buy the Tesla X but as a road car where distances are often 200+ miles is not going to work. So when is Tesla putting up these solar powered stations?

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smaller, lighter cars
written by John Rudmin, October 17, 2012

Let's not forget about the Amory Lovins evolution toward smaller, lighter cars. Imagine cars with an outer shell of something like kevlar instead of steel. Not only would they be more fuel efficient, but imagine if you could drive them onto a car rack on a "ferry car" on a train for the lion's share of that 200 mile commute.

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Range is about 600 km.
written by Best Man, October 20, 2012

I think the range will be around 600 km.

There was a car pilot project all over the German TV. BMW and Audi invested into some guys company that invented iron based batteries.

That guy put them in a car and went from Munich to Berlin without recharging.

It was about 600 km.

The former minister of economy also put some public funding into the company.

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written by Tom Fischer, March 17, 2013

These German cars are really changing the rhythm in the car industry. Since the car industries have now undergone a revolution in developing new technologies based cars these cars are really good. Electric Vehicles are the need of the time, because electric vehicles are more compact and easily can be used for, so the importance of which seems to attract the German cars manufacturer to manufacture these.

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