Luxury automaker Mercedes-Benz has debuted the first in a series of battery-powered vehicles, which will directly rival cars manufactured by Tesla Motors. Mercedes’ EQC crossover vehicle is going to start being manufactured in the first half of 2019. These plans were revealed by Daimler AG CEO Dieter Zetsche in Stockholm at an event unveiling the new vehicle.
Mercedes was originally planning to invest 10 billion euros in its electric vehicle initiatives. But Zetsche acknowledged that the company spent more than that, according to Bloomberg. “There is no alternative to betting on electric cars, and we’re going all in,” said Zetsche via Bloomberg. “It is starting right now.”
Mercedes will be assembling the EQC at a factory in Bremen where it also builds the C-Class sedan vehicles. And it will also be built at a plan in China for the Asian market. Another point worth mentioning is that Mercedes EQC is being built at a profit.
Daimler is looking to offer 10 all-electric vehicles by 2022. And Mercedes is planning to spend 1 billion euros on battery production in order to deploy eight facilities across the world.
Aside from Tesla’s Model X — which has an $85,000 starting price before tax rebates — the Mercedes EQC will be competing against other electric crossovers. For example, Audi is unveiling its e-tron soon and the Jaguar I-PACE is receiving largely positive reviews.
In terms of range, the EQC can hit 280 miles (480 kilometers) on a single charge. And the EQC accelerates from 0 to 62 MPH in 5.1 seconds.
