After unveiling the Vision EQXX concept at CES 2022, which certainly had an LG-designed motor, there are now reports suggesting that the German auto giant could start manufacturing its own electric motors as early as 2024.
Already big EVs like Tesla and Lucid Motors make their own motors, and GM also launched the Ultium brand of electric motors, meaning Daimler EVs aren’t fully vertically integrated at this point.
Mercedes has MMA and MB. A new electric architecture will be designed in-house and even feature in-house-built EV powertrains from 2024. Mercedes wants to achieve the same level of in-house production capacity for its EVs as it is doing.
for its ICE-based vehicles as it aims to be an EV-first brand by 2030. “We want to control the entire system consisting of the electric motor, battery, and power electronics as precisely as possible, similar to what happens with the combustion engine,” said Markus Schäfer, head of development at Daimler, to the sister publication Automotive News. automobile week.
“Until now, electric drives have come from external partners,” he added. Of course, this step does not come without massive investments from the German automaker.
Mercedes will manufacture axial-flow electric motors in Berlin, while the Untertukheim plant will be responsible for radial electric motors for smaller vehicles.
“We will certainly have to discuss a global capacity expansion for electric drives because we are accelerating strongly in electromobility and by 2025 half of our vehicles will be purely electric or as plug-in hybrids on the market,” explained Schaefer.
Interestingly, while the Vision EQXX was shown with plenty of LG technology, current production EVs from Mercedes feature ZF motors in the EQC and Valeo Siemens in the EQS. It should be noted that, despite having the world’s highest drag coefficient for an electric car, the EQS is neither one of the fastest nor one of the longest-ranging.