Daimler To Invest $11 Billion Into EVs Development

“Our goal is to have electric vehicles make up between 15 and 25% of our global sales by 2025.”

By Sreejith

Published: Monday, November 28, 2016, 15:24 [IST]

German automotive corporation Daimler has revealed that it will invest up to 10 billion euros into the development of electric vehicles. Thomas Weber, Research and Development Chief said that it is about to debut up to 10 EVs built from the same platform.

Daimler To Invest $11 Billion Into EVs Development

The firm is developing larger batteries so these new vehicles will have an operating range of up to 700 km and cars which are sold under its smart brand will have a range of 150km. According to Weber, this is sufficient and the company's range of EVs can sprint from 0-100 km/h in under five seconds.

The first car to hit the production will be based on the Generation EQ concept and it is to be built at the same Bremen plant in Germany as regular Mercedes-Benz models. This announcement was made by Dieter Zetsche, Chairman of Daimler.

"Our goal is to have electric vehicles make up between 15 and 25% of our global sales by 2025. We are investing €1 billion (RM4.7 billion) our global battery production, which includes €500 million (RM237.2 million) in our second battery plant in Germany."

Weber also told the reporters about the new S 500 e plug-in hybrid, which is set to hit the markets next spring along with facelifted S-Class range. The car now has an all-electric range of 50km, which is 20km more than the outgoing model.

The fellow German automaker Volkswagen is also preparing its EV range. At the Paris Auto Show, the company revealed its future family of EVs, starting with the entry-level I.D. Concept, which is expected to hit the production in 2020.