Daimler (maker of Mercedes) has recently publicly announced that they are partnering with Tesla Motors to make an EV.  The partnership must have been going on for quite some time because it has been announced that Mercedes will sport a gullwing EV in it’s lineup in the near future.

Reports are that Diamler has been working on this since 2006.  The car will be a sportscar sporting 526 horsepower and 649 fl-lb of torque.  That’ll get it moving from 0-60 in less than 4 seconds.  There will be four motors powering the car, one right next to each wheel.  Mercedes engineering comes into play with the transmissions.  There is one per axle.  Meaning that the car will be able to shift front and rear wheels independently of each other.  A truely intelligent all wheel drive all electric car.

Mercedes has not yet given us a price tag for this car (though we can expect it will be a lot), it should be available late 2010 or early 2011.  More importantly though is the news that another major automaker is getting their feet wet in the EV world.  This may not be a practical car, though a lot of people that can afford a Mercedes don’t need them.  But it is a step in the direction for future developement in the EV world, and it looks like automakers on all continents are moving ahead with plans for an EV.

Now we have GM and their Volt, Chrysler with it’s ENVI division, Tesla of course, Toyota and a plugin prius, Fisker is another start up like Tesla making the Karma, and Mercedes with this EV.  Did I leave any out?  I’m sure there are more that I’m forgetting.