Mercedes-Benz aiming to ditch petroleum by 2015?
By Darren Murph 
posted June 28th 2008 8:11PM
posted June 28th 2008 8:11PM
[Via AutoblogGreen, thanks Dan]
posted June 28th 2008 8:11PM
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This is fine and dandy but how many people can afford a new M-B or an Audi for that matter. By 2015 the base price on a new C-Class will be what $50,000 or more if the dollar keeps sinking.
How many people can afford a M-B? What will the cost in 2015?
It won't matter what you drive - you won't be able to afford to put gas in it in 2015.
Looked at another way, if you don't have some kind of fuel cell technology, you won't be in business. And if all the cars cost $50,000 then thats what you will pay if you want to drive. Don't have $50,000? You'll be riding the bus to work, I guess.
There's a reason Europe and Japan have really good public transport. It already costs 3x more to fill up over there.
Sorry for double post, I thought the first one got scrooched.
They'll have to drop the biofuels. Seems like biofuels are actually hurting nature more than first thought. Just google around and you'll find that biofuels are often produced by cutting rain forrest and planting crops for the fuel and will lead to famine and other nasty things. Too stoned to remember right now.
Like anything, it depends how well it's managed; and what's used. In the US, using corn is pretty daft. The stuff just takes so much effort to grow. The energy return (for the amount you put in) is pretty low -- around 1.5, I think. In Brazil (where around 95% of cars /can/ run gasoline free -- they're flex fuel cars and can run on E100: pure 'gasohol') they use sugar cane. This is much more efficient, and produces around 7 times the energy used (i.e. man-made, not from the sun etc. Can't break the laws of physics!) to grow it. Most plantations are around Sao Paulo, and nowhere near the Amazon rain forests.
Obviously sugar cane is not suitable for most countries. And here I believe that several companies are trying to develop crops that can grow in places where food crops could not be grown. And are closer in efficiency to sugar cane than corn. This way, no-one goes hungry, and not too much energy is used in actually growing the crops and turning them into fuel.
Funny, as MB is partially owned by kuwaiti investors (DAR)
2008 Last presidential election.
2012 President (really) screw it this time. End of the World.
2015 Oil-Less vehicles, so damn expensive like a Mercedes.
If that's true, then Dubai is screwed.
Dubai is actually engineering their own conversion towards being petroleum independent already. And interestingly their deadline is 2016. They want to have economy not dependent anymore on oil exports for income. And after visiting there last January I can say that they are well on the way to earn their money on tourism (Dubai = LasVegas 2.0). Oh yes, they are also building state of the art public transport system based on fully automatic light rail.
One more thing = being petroleum free does not mean Hydrogen or EV cars. It could be (and it probably will) Ethanol, Biofuels and depending on their definition of "petroleum" even Compressed Natural Gas.
Dubai's oil production is like 5% of their total output. They won't be screwed.
Engadget almost has a section for Apple, which is like the most boring kind of news we'd be reading.
Can we PLEASE have a section for cars?
* Autos
o Autoblog
o AutoblogGreen
o Autoblog Spanish
o Autoblog Chinese
o Autoblog Simplified Chinese
* Technology
etc...
How much will the electric vehicle cost? If the dollar keeps slipping, it'll be out of the range most people can afford, and only be affordable to the people who can afford Hummers.
you mean just like most Mercedes, right?
While the engineering technology is sufficient to meet this goal, I don't think that consumers are ready for so drastic a shift. Even paying the increasing amount we do for fuel, consumers and their illogical and impractical "fashion" needs will prevail. People still commute large distances in large V8 trucks and SUVs. Consumers are the tail that wags the automotive dog. I "pray" for our future.
Ahhh My commute is 53.8 miles EACH WAY and an electric car would be PERFECT FOR ME.
Please pray tell how many people do you know with a commute longer than that? I can only think of 3 and they live under the same roof as I do.
hey there he is! i was wondering when you'd show up to grace us with your unfounded bigotry again
I think they stole the plans for Mr. Fusion from Dr. Emmit Brown.
What happened to the flux capacitor? That seemed promising about 20 years ago.
Yeah, they'll loose it without that nasty design.
don't talk about your girlfriend that way!
they are actually arch-rivals lol
p.s. yeah, that pro-tree racket's certainly making a killing keeping forests alive. all that corruption over..uh...pine needles. them's big money.
Man! I love this car !!!!
very nice!
Here is a Electric car that will be available in 2009, and a hybrid (300 MPG) available in 2010, both will be under 30k, but at first will only be available in CA.
http://www.engadget.com/2007/10/10/apteras-300-mpg-car-available-for-pre-order/
http://www.aptera.com
I like the fact that HOPEFULLY Mercedes Benz will be petrol free by 2015, and I really hope that their "by 2015 motorists will have switched almost completely to alternative fuel cars" comment is based on some sound research done by the company, and not just marketing hype mixed with illogical wishful thinking.
Oh, and who besides yo mamma (and mine) is NOT coming out with an electric car in 2010?! :)
Ya know...I've had two Prius for a while now and the nice thing is my oldest, a 2003 prius, has never had a Main Battery dropout. I asked the dealer, HB-CA, whether he has had to swap out the main battery on any Prius since they started selling them....Answer...NO! Gives you some idea what the Toyota Battery technology is like. Finally, what do you think BIG OIL is going to do when they see this battery trend ramping up. They are going to start laying out bucks to bribe companies and hit us with alternate crap about how electric is dangerous and non-green (re: lithium). I am so looking forward to their struggles...Haaaa!
Check out the info on these cars that run on compressed air....This is the future baby....!!!!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmqpGZv0YT4&feature=email
GM & Ford are dirty as they come keeping & I will not feel the least bit sorry for them when they get overtaken by new technologies!
"The company have already spent £2million on their new long-term Sustainable Mobility plan and are set to invest a further £7billion before 2014."
--------
That's nice. Wake me when the results of the £7billion spent comes in.
PETRO FREE, lol
This is exactly what the world needs, drastic actions and make a change.
Honestly, automotive manufactures promising 100 mpg by 2020...Wait do they have a predicted price for gasoline in 2020? At the rate of which petroleum prices are rising, gasoline probably cost $10-15 a gallon, so if you get 100 miles per gallon at $15 a gallon thats 15 cents per mile if we're getting 30 mpg at $4.75 a gallon thats still roughly 15 cents per mile. I assume they don't think we can do math just because we don't have a bachelor or masters in business.
It amazes me how easily and successfully the public is mislead.
THERE IS ONE REASON AND ONE REASON ONLY THAT MERCEDES IS DOING THIS BY 2015
and the REASON IS JUST THAT >>>> 2015
you see thats when the NIMH PATENT that chevron is SITTING ON and preventing anyone from licensing and is the ONLY thing stopping electric cars from running RIGHT NOW.
Yeah 2015 is when that patent expires.
NOW you know why they marked 2015 as the year to stop use petrol. Because once that patent is public domain THEY WILL NOT HAVE ANY SAY IN THE MATTER ANY LONGER.
Woopeee for mercedes.
I don't care I just ordered a Natural Gas Honda Civic :). I am officially off of fossil fuels.
ARE YOU KIDDING ME? Honestly, you can't be that dumb. Just because is is in a gas form Natural gas is a fossil fuel. They suckered you in at the dealership didn't they? God you can sell anything to a hippy if you tell them it is green.
ARE YOU KIDDING ME? Honestly, you can't be that dumb. Just because is is in a gas form Natural gas is a fossil fuel. They suckered you in at the dealership didn't they? God you can sell anything to a hippy if you tell them it is green.
way to go MB hope the ban wagon gets totally full!
Can we run our car with water and gas?
Can anybody tell me is the HHO Gas is real working or is another scam?
hi there, I use water to fuel a car as a supplement to gasoline. In fact, very little water is needed, only one quart of water provides over 1800 gallons of HHO gas which can literally last for months and significantly increase your car fuel efficiently, improve emissions quality, and save money. I found the way through this site runcarsonwater.us i really recommend it to everybody, it's a nice eBook where you can find the instructions on how to do it! take a look.