First there was IQ, or intelligence quotient, to test how clever we are. Then came EQ, for emotional intelligence, to test how well we engage with the world. Now, Mercedes Benz is introducing a new form of EQ, for electric intelligence, or how well our cars prepare us for the future.
That will be the branding for a new range of vehicles being developed now by the world’s leading luxury vehicle maker, as it aims to drive automotive technology beyond connected and self-driving cars.
Last week, it unveiled the Concept EQA, a compact, sporty electric car that is expected to have a range of 400km on one charge. It has one electric motor on the front axle and one at the rear, allowing for greater flexibility in driving settings. More important, though, it will have zero carbon emissions, and is part of Mercedes-Benz’s push into the electric car market.
According to Johannes Fritz, the company’s co-CEO in South Africa, battery-electric models will account for 15-25 percent of total unit sales by 2025. The big variation in forecasts is a result of uncertainty around both customer preferences and public infrastructure.
Johannes Fritz, Mercedes-Benz South Africa co-CEO.
The common perception is that the lack of government interest in an electric vehicle future will hamper roll-out of a charging network, and that lack of public interest means there is little incentive for car makers to increase production.
To counter this perception, and advance its vision of EQ, Mercedes-Benz combined the unveiling of the Concept EQA with the opening of a unique pavilion at the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town.
Continue reading about the electric vehicle push in South Africa.
It commissioned designer Es Devlin to create an interactive sculpture in a solar-powered pavilion, called the Zoetrope. It will be open to the public, at no cost, for the next 12 months. The thinking is that, in future, a global network of solar-powered pavilions will act as charging stations.
Es Devlin
At present, Nissan and BMW lead both the electric vehicle (EV) and charging station market in South Africa. The BMW i3 and Nissan Leaf are synonymous with EVs in South Africa, and were recently joined by the Jaguar E-Pace. The Leaf has been not only a popular choice in the market, but has also helped Nissan advance a vision called Intelligent Mobility. The concept incorporates driving technology, battery technology and the car’s integration with a broader ecosystem.
It is clear that Mercedes-Benz’s Electric Intelligence is a direct challenge to Nissan’s thought leadership in this arena. To this end, the German car-maker has come up with an additional framework it calls CASE. That’s a loose acronym for networking (Connected), autonomous driving (Autonomous), flexible use (Shared & Services) and electric drive systems (Electric).
That does not mean the existing petrol-driven range will take a back seat. says Fritz, “We need the core business to invest in the electric future.”
Selvin Govender, Marketing Director of Mercedes-Benz Cars South Africa, points out that the new technology is still evolving.
Continue reading to find the EQ brand roll out.
“The Mercedes-Benz EQ brand and technology encapsulates all the electric know-how of Mercedes-Benz Cars,” he says “By 2022, Mercedes-Benz will offer more than ten purely electrically driven vehicles in every production series.”
The EQA will be part of this roll-out, but won’t be the first electric Merc in South Africa. That honour will go to the EQC, a sedan with an expected range of more than 450 km on one charge. Launched a few weeks ago, it will be produced at a plant in Bremen next year, and is expected to be delivered to South African customers in 2020.
By then, he believes, charging stations will be commonplace.
“They are popping up around the country. There are four below the Zoetrope, in the parking garage. Every new mall that’s coming up, they’re building with charging stations in mind. This roll-out is happening, whether or not government or manufacturers support it. Society is supporting it.”
Meanwhile, the company has invested R100-million on a South African plant building hybrid petrol-electric cars. This makes it the only manufacturer on the African continent to build hybrid vehicles for export to the rest of the world.
“Plug-in hybrids represent a key technology on the road to a locally emission-free future for the motor vehicle,” says Govender. “This is because they offer customers the best of both worlds; in the city they can drive in fully electric mode, while on long journeys they benefit from the combustion engine’s range.
“Because the strengths of plug-in hybrids come to the fore in larger vehicles and on mixed route profiles, Mercedes-Benz is opting for this powertrain concept from the C-Class upwards. Designed to be scalable, it can be transferred to a large number of model series and body styles as well as left and right-hand-drive variants.”
Parent company Daimler AG is investing approximately one billion Euros in battery production. It is developing a new flash charge technology that allows an EV battery to be charged from 10% to 80% in 40 minutes. This, says Fritz, will be the “game-changer” for electric cars.
However, he is under no illusion that the public will embrace the EV.
“It’s not going to be a switch we turn from non-electric to electric. We have to slowly build up demand, and our approach is to make EQ as a brand attractive and sexy and get people to think in a new way about mobility. We’re preparing the ground for more to come, but there is still a long way to go.”