Mercedes developing EVA platform for four electric vehicles
Since the initial report, the launch order has changed. Now the midsize sedan comes first, followed by a midsized SUV, and they come in 2018 instead of 2019. After that will come the large sedan and large SUV – and the entire line-up will be aimed at Tesla and recently announced competitors.
The EVA is an offshoot of the automaker's MRA rear-drive platform that supports the C-Class, S-Class, and coming E-Class, all utilizing the same basic layout and suspension. According to Car the architecture will house an 880-pound battery in its floor, with the number and placement of electric motors making the difference in output and number of driven wheels between the various configurations. No one is clear on the exact weight of Tesla batteries, but an 880-pound unit would come in under all of the estimates for Model S batteries we could find on Tesla forums.
That first sedan, sized between the conventional C-Class and E-Class, will go on sale in 2018 to coincide with the planned arrivals of the Porsche Mission-e and Audi Q6 E-tron Quattro. The crossover will slot in size-wise between the GLC and GLE. They will both use the smaller EVA platform layout with a 106-inch wheelbase - the current C-Class has a wheelbase of 111.8 inches. The final duo will be an S-Class-sized sedan and a crossover said to be larger than the newly introduced GLS.
All offerings will employ a 300-kW electric motor to power the rear wheels. The all-wheel-drive models get another motor rated at either 90 kW or 150 kW to power the front wheels. The ultimate sales target is an even 20,000 per model per year. Prices are rumored to start at the equivalent of $102,000 to $116,000. At the moment the Tesla Model S 70D begins at roughly $81,000 in the UK.
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