Mercedes-Benz Concept BlueZero: an EV, an EREV and a fuel cell vehicle all in one!
Mercedes-Benz will be exhibiting a trio of “Concept BlueZero” cars at the 2009 Detroit Motor Show in January 2009. One will be called the BlueZero E-Cell, which runs on an electric motor powered by a lithium ion battery. For those who want plug-in charging, the vehicle can do that.
Two hours of charging gets you 100km of maximum range. But of course, lithium ion batteries have range issues right now, as you can see 100km isn’t really much especially in Europe where cross-country journeys can be really long.
So the other two BlueZero concept cars are the BlueZero E-Plus and the BlueZero F-Cell. The E-Plus has an additional internal combustion engine installed in the rear of the vehicle which is used to generate power to charge the lithium ion battery. The internal combustion engine is taken from the smart family of vehicles, an inline-3 turbocharged engine. This can extend range up to 600km. This is what car manufacturers have been calling an EREV, or an extended range electric vehicle. Finally you have the BlueZero F-Cell, which uses a fuel cell that produces electricity from hydrogen.
Less exciting is the concept-like interior, which looks truly at home in a concept car. It uses organic green materials which can be easily recycled, to satisfy those tree huggers out there.
Last but not least… are we also at the same time looking at a preview of the next generation B-Class design language?
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