http://www.ibtimes.com/tesla-motors-stop-supplying-mercedes-benz-battery-pack-drivetrain-german-automaker-2331898 Tesla Motors To Stop Supplying Mercedes-Benz With Battery Pack, Drivetrain As German Automaker Develops Its Own 03/07/16 ANGELO YOUNG
[image / MERCEDES-BENZ http://s1.ibtimes.com/sites/www.ibtimes.com/files/styles/md/public/2016/03/07/b-class-electric-drive.jpg B-Class Electric Drive The next generation Mercedes-Benz B-Class Electric Drive will forgo the battery pack and drivetrain that has underpinned Merc’s first fully electric vehicle. Pictured is a 2015 model ] After seven years, Mercedes-Benz and Tesla Motors are parting ways. The German automaker will go at it alone in developing the next generation B-Class Electric Drive, its fully electric $42,000 compact five-door hatchback. “We have had an excellent project with Tesla and have worked very well with them,” Harald Kroeger, head of electric-drive development at Mercedes-Benz parent Daimler AG, told the German magazine Wirtshafts Woche in an article published over the weekend. But the company has invested 500 million euros ($550.5 million) in a battery and drivetrain plant and can now supply itself with the necessary components, Kroeger added. The current B-Class ekes out about 100 miles per fully charged battery, not much for an electric car priced at around $42,000. But the next generation B-Class Electric Drive will boast more than twice the range, putting it comfortably in the area of the wave of electric cars coming out in 2017-2018, including Tesla’s Model 3 sedan, priced at around $35,000 after the U.S. federal green-car incentive. The decision to end the supply arrangement comes seven years after Daimler invested $550 million in Tesla – a 10 percent stake in the startup – that came at a crucial make-or-break moment for the Palo Alto electric car maker. Daimler sold nearly half of those shares in 2014. Similar to Daimler, Toyota was an early investor in Tesla, putting in $50 million and selling its Fremont, California, factory site to Tesla ... [© 2016 IBT Media] For EVLN EV-newswire posts use: http://evdl.org/evln/ {brucedp.150m.com} -- View this message in context: http://electric-vehicle-discussion-list.413529.n4.nabble.com/EVLN-Mercedes-Benz-Tesla-packs-parting-ways-after-7yrs-tp4680925.html Sent from the Electric Vehicle Discussion List mailing list archive at Nabble.com. _______________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org Read EVAngel's EV News at http://evdl.org/evln/ Please discuss EV drag racing at NEDRA (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA)
