The German giant will unveil their latest Concept at the Detroit Motor Show in early 2009; with the BlueZERO offering three modular configurations: the E-CELL, F-CELL, and E-CELL PLUS.
The E-CELL with battery-electric drive and a range of up to 120miles using electric drive alone; the F-CELL (using a fuel cell) has a range of over 240 miles, and finally, the E-CELL PLUS uses an electric drive with an additional internal combustion engine as a power generator to extend the range to up to 370miles.
The three variants share the same key technical components, and each measure just 4.22metres in length; the top speed of each variant is limited to 93mph, with 0-62mph achieved in under 11 seconds. Currently one of the main drawbacks of purely electric driven cars is the time taken to recharge the battery; however Mercedes-Benz believes their lithium-ion batteries in the E-CELL can store enough energy to travel 30miles within 30minutes.
Mercedes-Benz is due to start a small scale production of fuel-cell drive in 2009, with battery-electric to follow in 2010.
