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Mercedes held a conference last week where it outlined plans to push further into luxury territory by pursuing higher profit margins over volume. To that end, more than 75 percent of investment will go to models from the above C-Class segment while the number of compact cars will drop from seven body styles to four. Going forward, the company’s five pillars are the traditional Benz models, G-Class, EQ, Maybach and AMG.
We’ve already discussed the entry-level electric compact car, the EQE SUV, the Maybach SL, and the AMG Vision Concept, but what about the G-Class? Well, the “Economics of Desire” presentation includes a short clip of EQG and his party trick – it’s the turn of “G”. Mercedes speaks for the tank’s turn by doing a 360-degree turn on its own axis. A prototype electric off-roader with the current body model is briefly shown turning by turning the wheels on one side in the opposite direction of the other.
16 Photo
The so-called “G” turns will be made possible by mounting the EQG with four electric motors, one for each wheel. Mercedes also confirmed the G-Class without a combustion engine will feature independent front suspension and a rigid rear axle developed specifically for electric vehicles.
The tank change functionality is nothing new in the automotive industry as Rivian has demoed it in 2019. However, it’s still missing on the R1T as deploying the system to production trucks is proving to be more difficult than initially believed. It’s unclear when the electric pickup will get the technology, but in the meantime, it looks like Mercedes has cracked the code. EQG is expected to launch sometime in 2024.
Another key feature that the electric G-Class will get is an optional lithium-ion battery pack with silicon anode chemistry to achieve greater range thanks to higher density cells. Mercedes recently said the technology Sila developed would be offered sometime in the middle of this decade. The engineers targeted a 20-40 percent increase in energy density to exceed 800 Wh/l at the cellular level and consequently increase the range “by a significant amount.”
When Mercedes unveiled the Concept EQG in September 2021 at the Munich IAA event, it was also talking about a two-speed shiftable gearbox featuring a crawler gear. Backed up by a tank change, that could only mean the zero-emissions G would live up to the legend created by the gas-guzzling model.
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