CHINESE-owned battery producer Envision AESC will present electric-vehicle battery modules to Mercedes-Benz’s Tuscaloosa, Alabama manufacturing facility from 2025 because the Sindelfingen-based marque scales up manufacturing of its vary of all-electric autos.
The brand new battery plant – the placement of which has not been disclosed – will provide batteries for Mercedes-EQ fashions (together with the upcoming EQE SUV and EQS SUV) in a transfer that the agency claims “underscores the significance of the USA throughout the Mercedes-Benz manufacturing community and the standing of Alabama as an export hub for luxurious SUVs within the electrical period”.
The Tuscaloosa manufacturing facility, which is one in every of seven places on three continents to provide Mercedes-EQ fashions, has produced Mercedes-Benz fashions since 1997, and presently builds GLE- and GLS-Class SUVs. The corporate says that after BEV manufacturing is totally underway, the positioning might be able to producing as much as 6000 autos a month.
“Establishing a powerful battery-cell associate community in accordance with our international manufacturing technique is a vital milestone on our option to CO2-neutrality. Envision AESC might be a serious provider securing capability for the following generations of our Mercedes-EQ merchandise constructed within the US within the years to come back,” mentioned Mercedes-Benz chief expertise officer of growth and procurement, Markus Schaefer.
“With Envision AESC’s net-zero carbon options and battery expertise, this new cooperation underlines our holistic method concerning our sustainable worth chain and permits us to safe provides, to benefit from economies of scale, and to supply our clients with superior battery expertise,” he added.
Mr Schaefer mentioned the Tuscaloosa plant would help the corporate in reaching its aim of being totally electrical by the top of the last decade, and that along with companions worldwide, Mercedes-Benz would have eight battery-cell factories with a manufacturing capability of 200gWh by 2030.
The announcement follows current information that Mercedes-Benz had taken an undisclosed monetary stake in US-based solid-state battery developer, Factorial Vitality. On the time, the corporate mentioned the collaboration aimed to considerably enhance the power density (and, subsequently, driving vary) of EV battery packs.
Factorial Vitality claims its “breakthrough solid-state batteries” supply as much as 50 per cent longer vary per cost and elevated security at an analogous value level to traditional lithium-ion models.
Mercedes-Benz additionally used the announcement to supply a primary take a look at its forthcoming EQS SUV. The seven-seat mannequin, which is able to make its international debut on April 17, incorporates a modular battery pack like that discovered within the EQE SUV and guarantees a “luxurious inside” that Mercedes-Benz mentioned would “redefine a whole phase”.
The brand new EQS SUV might be accessible optionally with a 56.0-inch curved MBUX Hyperscreen that sweeps throughout the car’s dashboard and supplies instrumentation and infotainment shows along with an individualised display for the front-seat passenger. The EQS SUV can also be one of many first Mercedes-EQ fashions to debut a ‘free-floating’ centre console.
The 5160mm lengthy mannequin – which is constructed on Mercedes-Benz’s devoted Electrical Automobile Structure – is known to characteristic a 108kWh lithium-ion battery pack and dual-motor all-wheel drive (4Matic), with the flagship variant producing outputs of as much as 385kW and 855Nm. An optimum driving vary of as much as 600km is anticipated.
A single-motor variant can also be anticipated. It would in all probability be outfitted with a 91kWh battery pack and have a rear-wheel drive configuratoin. The bottom model of the EQS SUV is tipped to supply outputs of as much as 245kW and 600Nm and a driving vary of as a lot as 750km.
