e-cell SLS AMG to impress?

AMG's first electric supercar, the SLS e-cell, will deliver true racetrack performance. That's the promise of Mercedes-AMG boss, Ola Källenius.

The Benz performance arm displayed the chassis and powertrain of the all-electric supercar at the recent Geneva Motor Show. Configured in a carbon-fibre backbone arrangement with four chassis-mounted synchronous electric motors and open-wheeler-style pushrod suspension, the display showed the extent of the differentiation of the electric car from the petrol V8-powered Gullwing with which it will share its styling.

Källenius told motoring.com.au that the e-cell would be offered as a production car and that the company would build it in the "triple digits". He said AMG was serious about the performance and range the car would deliver.

"Here we’re breaking new ground -- a little bit with a philosophy of 'build it and they will come' [but] our e-cell SLS will be on the pricelist, certainly for an exclusive clientele, of course, [but it] will be a product that you can actually buy and drive...

"We will launch the car, its official launch, this year and deliveries will start in 2013," Källenius told motoring.com.au.

According to Källenius many aspects of the car are still not finalised but examples have already been tested at the Nurburgring. He's coy when quizzed on the car's final power and torque outputs and performance claims.

"Well, I looked at the stand out there and it said 392kW and 880Nm. Who knows, it could be more," he teases.

"Actually, we don’t know [the final output]."

Range is targeted at 200km – of "enthusiastic" driving... Though with a caveat.

"We are going for 200 kilometres plus... so that you can actually use the car... "

"Enthusiastic, has, of course, certain definitions. If you drive flat out on the Nordschleife it will be less than that. Then again, if you drive a gasoline car flat out on the Nordschleife you don’t get much more than five laps or so, anyway."

Källenius would not comment on the electric car's laptime at the legendary circuit.

More than 500kg of the pure-electric plug-in e-cell's final kerb weight will be battery. However, the new chassis arrangement effectively lowers the centre of gravity of the electric car a further 27mm when compared to the hardly top heavy standard SLS, explains Källenius.

There's no gearbox; rather, the four electric motors drive a wheel each via short and stout driveshafts. Braking is via a mix of electrical regeneration and carbon-composite four-wheel discs. Unsprung weight is kept to conventional levels, AMG claims.

Källenius says the car is also a technology 'step-change' for the company. Indeed, he termed the e-cell: "a double step forward in one go".

"With the power and torque available from the first millisecond, [that] the e-cell car will have, the driving experience is absolutely mind boggling. But it’s not just a quest to make the best and most fascinating high-tech, supersports electric car, it’s actually the foundation, in terms of building up the know-how for performance electrification inside the company.

"It’s [also] our first hybrid body construction with carbon-fibre married to an aluminium space frame.

"Electrification will enter into the performance segment at some point in time. We decided we will use the e-cell project to build up the technical knowledge inside the company.

"[With that knowledge] Then you can combine it in any shape or form you like further on. Whether you do a small add-on, like a KERS [Kinetic Energy Recovery System], or if you go full-blown into a plug-in hybrid...

"The market environment will decide when the time is right to do that," Kallenius said.

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