The baby Benz electric car over 30 years ago
10/08/2023
As we know, the electric car has been around almost as long as vehicles with gasoline engines or steam engines. Of the three drive concepts, however, only the car with an internal combustion engine was able to establish itself, but the industry kept trying to develop alternatives. The electric car in particular was repeatedly the subject of new developments, spurred on by fuel shortages and environmental protection efforts.
At the beginning of the nineties, Mercedes-Benz, for example, realized an electric passenger car based on the baby Benz, series W201, called 190/190E. Apparently, the development was not particularly complex, if the comments made by Mercedes at the time are to be believed:
" The technical concept is impressively simple: instead of the conventional combustion engine and the entire drive train, two electric motors acting directly on the rear wheels via the stub shafts are installed in the relatively inexpensive passenger car with reliable large-scale production technology.
The necessary power is supplied by two high-energy batteries installed in crash-proof housings, one of which is in the front of the engine compartment, the other in place of the fuel tank. They have four times the energy density of lead batteries. With this electric car concept, Mercedes-Benz is proving that it is prepared for the law passed by the US state of California on the introduction of "emission vehicles"."
Well, the electric 190 didn't make it past the research stage, but at least it can now be shown at trade fairs from time to time ...
P.S. And who knows, perhaps the first baby Benz classic car owners will soon electrify their old car and create a replica of the research vehicle from back then, so to speak ...
