Mercedes Benz continues to push the electric car envelope in remarkable directions.

The German company has announced it will be unveiling what it calls the Vision S 500 Plug-in HYBRID at the Frankfurt Auto Show next week.

This is a full size S-class high luxury high performance sedan that can drive up to 18 miles on pure electricity. It is not a range-extended electric car like the BlueZero Cell Plus concept previously unveiled, but rather a parallel PHEV.

The vehicle uses a 6 cylinder gasoline engine as the main powerplant which is integrated with a 44 kw (60 hp) electric motor. There is a rechargeable 10 kw usable lithium ion battery pack mounted in the rear. Mercedes points out that this battery location is “crucial” to maintain weight balance and allow a substantial size for the gas tank.

The weighty car can accelerate from 0 to 60 in 5.5 seconds. It will drive purely on electricity when possible but the gas engine will go on any time power demands increase sufficiently such as with strong acceleration and hill climbing.

The on-board charger allows recharge in 4.5 hours at 120 V but is capable of accepting a fast charge at 20 kW in 60 minutes.

Mercedes has also announced the car will achieve a fuel efficiency of 3.2L/100 km which translates to 72.5 MPG, and will emit a 74 gCO2/km.

Obviously no pricing has been announced yet, but expect it to be north of 100K. Mercedes does report the car is “near-series production” and that it will likely be launched as a member of the next generation of S-class hybrids. In fact reports suggest the entire S-class line will be hybrids.

“Although it will take some time before this model can go into series production, our engineers will be working full steam to carry out the necessary integration measures and ensure that all components can meet the tough everyday demands required of a luxury long-distance saloon,” says Dr. Thomas Weber, member of the Board of Management of Daimler AG with responsibility for Group Research and Mercedes-Benz Cars Development. “We’ve already got all the key technology we need for such a dream car, which is why I see it being included in the next generation of the S‑Class. The important thing now is that our development work be accompanied by the establishment of a full-coverage infrastructure that will allow the potential of this innovative drive system to be fully exploited.”

Right now Mercedes has the $87,950 S400 Blue Hybrid in production, which uses a 3.5L V-6 gas engine combined with a 15kW motor and 1 kwh lithium ion pack, and achieves 19 MPG city and 26 MPG highway fuel efficiency.

Source (Mercedes-Benz)

Related posts:

1. Mercedes-Benz BlueZero E-Cell Plus, E-REV or PHEV?
2. Mercedes-Benz May be First to Put Lithium-ion Battery into a Mass Produced US Car: S400 BlueHybrid
3. BMW Vision Plug-in Hybrid Concept Car