BLUE|HYBRID

They were the first automotive manufacturer to patent the front and rear crumple zones, safety airbags, and now the first lithium ion battery to power an all new S-Class sedan.  The S400 launched earlier this year, with a brand new technology- the worlds first hybrid that uses a lithium ion battery.  Benz has 25 patents on this hybrid technology, and it differs from both their ML450 HYBRID, as well as many of the Japanese hybrids that we have seen from Toyota and Lexus.  The biggest difference, the battery is under the hood!  By placing the battery under the hood, Mercedes can control the climate control and that temperature of the battery so everything is running efficiently.  The S-Class sedan gets about 30 miles to the gallon, and for a 3.5 liter V-6, and a 15kW electric motor, these fuel numbers are pretty astonishing.  Another advantage to using this type of battery technology is that whereas most hybrids compromise trunk space, this one uses virtually none.  Benz states that the main advantage using this battery over all other batteries is that it saves so much space.  Other features that are attractive to Mercedes is the weight of the battery, long service life, and tremendous reliability.  Mercedes has also been thinking about implementing a diesel/hybrid power-train.  Seeing as their diesel is one of the most fuel efficient diesels on the road, couple it with a battery/electric motor, some pretty impressive MPG numbers, as well as performance.

Just to re-cap, the S400 Sedan is the only Mercedes-Benz vehicle to use the new lithium ion battery technology, the ML450 SUV uses a conventional two-mode hybrid system.