Mercedes BlueZERO E-Cell Plus Electric Concept Car revealed

Mercedes first showed the BlueZERO E-Cell Plus Concept at the beginning of the year at the Detroit Motor Show. And now, as things move on, they are revealing it as a pre-production model.

The BlueZERO E-Cell is actually based on the existing A Class / B Class platform, which is interesting in itself. Why? Well, the sandwich construction of the A/B Class lends itself perfectly to battery storage for the BlueZERO E-Cell Plus, but this whole platform is due to be dumped when the next generation A/B Class arrives, as it’s considered too expensive to continue. But it looks like it’s going to live on as the BlueZERO E-Cell Plus.

The BlueZERO E-Cell Plus gets a 1.0 litre 3-pot turbo petrol engine producing 67 bhp, which is used to charge the 18KWh lithium-ion batteries that drive an electric motor that produces 100kw and 236lb/ft of torque. This combination allows the BlueZERO E-Cell Plus to deliver 0-60mph in around 10.5 seconds and a top speed of 93mph.

The combination of the electric motor and small 3-pot turbo allows the BlueZERO E-Cell Plus to travel around 60 miles on the electric motor alone, but up to a further 300 miles once the petrol engine kicks in. Mercedes say the BlueZERO E-Cell Plus will deliver 30 miles of electric driving from a 20 minute charge – but that’s only using a special 20KW rapid charger. Plug it in to a domestic socket and you’ll have to wait around six hours.

It looks likely that Mercedes will put the BlueZERO E-Cell Plus in to production in the not too distant future. But they are also working on the BlueZero F-Cell Concept – hydrogen fuel-cell electric car -  which is going in to limited production this year as the Mercedes B-Class F-Cell.

Interesting developments. But we prefer the F-Cell idea.