Mercedes SLS AMG E-Cell

Mercedes has been showing the intended technology for the SLS AMG E-Cell since 2010, and it has been honing and evolving the electric technology since then. Mercedes thinks that it will have the electric sports car on sale sometime in 2013. 

Regardless of your thoughts on electric cars, there is something impressive about a car with 526hp, 392kW, and 880Nm of torque. The SLS AMG E-Cell adds a carbon fiber monocoque to hold the batteries where the drive shaft would be on a normal SLS. There are four electric motors – each one near, but not in, the wheel to reduce unsprung weight. 

Mercedes claims that the AMG E-Cell will accelerate to 100km/h in four seconds, which is just 0.2 seconds slower than the standard SLS AMG. Because each wheel as an individual motor, it gives the car a novel version of torque vectoring all-wheel drive. Mercedes has set up the system to adjust during cornering to minimize oversteer and understeer. It also reduces the car's reliance on ESP. To stop the car with this amount of power, Mercedes has fitted carbon fiber-strengthened ceramic brakes. 

The 12 batteries in the E-Cell produce a total of 48kWh and are liquid cooled to keep them at a temperature to maximize range. Mercedes says that the circuitry for each battery runs in parallel, which means if there is a problem they can be serviced individually. 

One change that had to be made because of the added electric motors was a redesigned front suspension. The current SLS AMG uses a dual wishbone front suspension, but this setup would not allow for Mercedes to place the electric motors as close to the wheels as it wanted. Instead it built a multi-link setup with pushrod dampers. Because there is no internal combustion engine, the car also switched to an electric power steering from the regular SLS's hydraulic system.   

The fad at the moment seems to be for automakers to build electric sports coupe. Unfortunately, we are at a weird point where these cars are being developed but not yet released. Will they be any good?