Mercedes Axes Large, Next-Gen EV Platform As Buyers Cool On Electric Cars
Work on MB.EA architecture intended for E-Class and S-Class has stopped, report says
2 hours ago
- Mercedes has dropped plans to develop a new MB.EA platform for future large EVs, report claims
- Architecture would have been used for electric E-Class and S-Class models
- Automaker will instead update its existing EVA2 platform currently used by EQE and EQS
The slowdown in demand for electric cars doesn’t only have automakers wondering how to shift the cars they already spent billions developing. It also has them worried about how to spend their development cash going forward, and Mercedes has opted not to spend any more on an EV platform that was to form the basis for the company’s next large EVs.
Lackluster interest in electric cars has forced Mercedes to rethink its EV strategy, and that means work has stopped on the new MB.EA Large platform intended for cars like the next-generation Mercedes E-Class and S-Class. Instead, the automaker will drastically reduce its costs by diverting resources to further refining the EVA2 platform it’s been using for the past few years on EVs such as the EQE and EQS.
Related: Mercedes Latest Automaker To Slow EV Push, Will Keep ICE Alive Into The 2030s
The news was first reported by Germany’s Handelsblatt, before Mercedes confirmed the story to a second outlet, Automobilwoche, telling journalists that “the pace of transformation will be determined by market conditions and the wishes of our customers.”
Customers are telling Mercedes through the medium of sales figures that they still want to buy cars with combustion engines, which the company now expects to offer well into the 2030s. It had originally envisaged switching almost entirely to EVs by the end of this decade, but earlier this year the company’s boss said there wasn’t sufficient demand for electric vehicles to make that target achievable. Current forecasts suggest only half of Mercedes’ 2030 sales will be of BEV and PHEV cars.
Slow sales of the firm’s EQ cars are believed to be a driving factor in Mercedes’ development U-turn, which Autocar suggests will save it between €4-6 billion ($4.3-6.5 bn). The publication adds that the changes to the EVA2 platform will upgrade the electrical architecture from 400 to 800 volts, and introduce new motors and batteries that will deliver more driving range between charges.
This isn’t completely the end of the road for the MB.EA project, however. While the MB.EA Large program has been scrapped, the smaller version of the MB.EA platform, MB.EA Medium, earmarked for the electric C-Class and its SUV brother, the replacement for today’s EQC, will continue to be developed.
H/T: Auto News
