You'll have a chance to plug in your own Mercedes-Benz SLS supercar by 2013. (The new SLS Formula One Safety Car is shown here.)
The high-performance Mercedes-Benz SLS has barely had a chance to spread its gullwing doors, but the German maker is already beginning to test an environmentally-friendly version of the supercar that could give the gasoline-powered SLS a run for its money.
Mercedes is setting a target date of 2013 for the launch of its SLS Electric, a lithium-ion-powered version of the 2-seat supercar. The battery model is expected to pump out a reasonably impressive 525 horsepower, but like all electric vehicles, the real story is on the tire-spinning torque side, and there the numbers soar to 649 pound-feet. Preliminary tests suggest 0 to 60 times of about four seconds.
The SLS Electric will use four separate motors, one for each wheel. The approach is more complicated and costly – but has the advantage of creating a highly controllable version of all-wheel-drive. Among other things, Mercedes engineers will program in torque vectoring, which will allow them to steer the car through a corner by directing power to one or more specific wheels.
Three separate sets of lithium-ion batteries will be mounted in the supercar’s center tunnel, where there’s no longer need for a driveshaft, and behind the seats. The automaker believes it can pack in enough cells to give the Mercedes-Benz SLS Electric range of about 112 miles.
On the downside, all those batteries translates into a lot of weight, bringing the gull-winged two-seater up to 4,100 pounds, or roughly 500 pounds more than the gasoline-powered version.
Volker Mornhinweg, CEO of Mercedes’ performance division, AMG, insists that early prototypes of the SLS Electric are more than meeting the maker’s targets, though it plans plenty of additional testing before it begins production.
At this point, no price has been set, but considering the cost of electric drive technology, even before you add four wheel motors, insiders hint that the 2013 Mercedes-Benz SLS Electric will almost certainly carry a premium compared to the roughly $300,000 pricetag on the “conventional” SLS supercar.