Artist rendering Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG Electric Drive courtesy Mercedes-Benz
Zero to sixty in four blistering seconds. Zero emissions. Battery powered. Swing-wing doors. It’s the new Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG, and if you have to ask how much it costs, you probably can’t afford it.
This super sports car is stacked with revolutionary design -- powerful thrust is from four electric motors positioned near the wheels, hooked to one transmission per axle to transmit the power. The four electric motors have a combined peak output of 392 kW and enough torque to get you into trouble with the cops.
The electric motors are powered by a super-powerful liquid-cooled high-voltage lithium-ion battery. The 400-volt battery is charged by regenerative braking – Mercedes calls it "targeted recuperation" – and with this much power, you’ll be braking a lot to keep the battery happy and charged. Not to mention the cops.
Mercedes-Benz calls this both an intelligent all-wheel-drive system and a high-tech drive system. Agreed. And if AMG is putting its name on the door (or trunk), you know this is a high performance puppy. Besides being an eco-friendly, zero emissions, green puppy. Er -- car.
The electric SLS AMG delivers around the same acceleration and power as the conventional gas-powered SLS AMG with a 571 horsepower, 6.3-litre, V8 engine. And the battery-powered Mercedes SLS AMG sports car is zero emission.
"With the SLS AMG with electric drive, we wanted to redefine the super sports car. For us, it is not just about responsibility. We attach just as much importance to excitement and classic AMG performance," says Volker Mornhinweg, Chief Executive Officer of Mercedes-AMG GmbH. Aber naturlich, Herr Mornhinweg.
The electric drive components of the SLS AMG required no changes to the swing-wing model's aluminium spaceframe body. So the battery-powered SLS AMG has the same low center of gravity and balanced weight distribution as its gas-driven sibling.
Mercedes recently purchased ten percent of Tesla, whose plug-in electric Roadster also can catapult 0-60 in 4 seconds – actually, 3.9 for the base model and 3.7 for the souped-up Tesla Roadster Sport.
No word yet on when the Mercedes SLS AMG electric drive goes on sale, or how much it will cost. The PHEV Tesla sports car starts at $109,000.
Visit www.GreatDrives.net for more articles by Green Car Examiner Evelyn Kanter.
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