A small petrol engine should have helped a new electric Mercedes to go further on the battery. But now the Germans are scrapping the idea.
It is not a good idea to equip the Mercedes electric top model EQS with a small petrol engine anyway.
In any case, the idea is not good enough for Mercedes to continue working with it. Even though pictures from spy photographers reveal that Mercedes has actually tested the car on public roads.
A 'high-ranking Mercedes engineer' confirms to Autocar that the idea has been put to rest. Still, Mercedes managed to develop at least one prototype.
– In the end, however, we have come to the conclusion that the range extender is thus a transitional technology with a relatively short-term advantage, the anonymous engineer tells the media.
There are few details about the prototype that Mercedes tested. But it is said to have a range of 'more than the 763 kilometers the EQS 450+ is claimed for'.
For the same reason, there is also little information about the small petrol engine that Mercedes has used as a range extender.
But it is said to be a 1-litre, two-cylinder affair, which the Mercedes people developed by cutting the brand's 2-litre four-cylinder petrol engine, which, among other things, is in the A45 AMG and now also in the C63 AMG, over two.
With the small petrol engine, Mercedes could content itself with developing a battery pack half the size of the battery currently in the EQS model.
Mercedes are not the only ones who have considered the idea of extending the range of an electric car with a petrol engine.
At Mazda, for example, they have taken the idea seriously. And even with a wankel engine, which otherwise has not been on the market since the RX-8 went out of production in 2012. Read more about it here .
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