Dieter Zetsche Confirms Electric Mercedes in 2010 - We were right!! - BenzInsider.com

Dieter Zetsche Confirms Electric Mercedes in 2010 – We were right!!

Muamer Hodzic June 23, 2008

We usually don’t like to brag here at BenzInsider, but this time we just can’t resist. If you’ve been following our news over the last couple of months, you might remember our story from March 17th about the 100% electric car from Mercedes. That is right ladies and gentleman, we posted a ~~rumor~~ story on a Mercedes plan to enter the market for all-electric powered vehicles, after receiving an email from someone within Mercedes. Our story wasn’t really covered too much, which as you can see now is unfortunate. The all electric “rumor” that we reported on, is the real deal, unfortunately, nobody in the automotive blog world will ever give us credit for being the first to expose this story.

Daimler plans to roll out a Mercedes-Benz model that runs on electricity in 2010, its chief executive said in an interview with the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

“We plan an electric Smart for 2010 and for the same year a Mercedes (electric) model as well,”

Daimler currently has in London a fleet of 100 first-generation Smart cars that run on electricity.

Mr. Zetsche made no remark regarding the price, but based on the current market for electric vehicles, we can assume that the price for an electric smart fortwo will be significantly more than for a similar gasoline powered model.

“That depends on whether we sell the batteries with the car or lease them. The willingness (on the part of consumers) to pay more is limited,” he said, adding that the group is also considering whether to manufacture electric motors itself. Daimler, which spends about half of its research and development budget on powertrains and CO2 reduction, is also in talks with ex-SAP executive Shai Agassi regarding his plan to create a mass-market infrastructure for electric cars.