Tomorrow the doors will open to Europe’s largest exhibition of new mobility solutions, IAA Mobility in Munich. Several major automakers are on hand to show what we can expect from the news in the coming years.
Three of the electric concepts on display are particularly interesting, because they will be on Norwegian roads in no time, are suitable for most people and will almost certainly be on bestseller lists. BMW’s new class of electric cars, with the resonant designation Neue Klasse, Volkswagen’s small electric car ID.2, which will cost less than 25,000 euros, and the more affordable Mercedes CLA EV, which will have a range of more than 750 kilometres.
It can cause a strong noise
The fact that these cars will be ready for sale in 2025 means that what you see in the pictures here is what the cars will look like. The car’s design is “locked in” for approximately 24 months before it enters production.
BMW: a new category
The debut of the first model in BMW’s new electric vehicle segment – which they themselves call the “Neue Klasse EV” – is so future-oriented that it feels as if we’ve skipped a whole generation, says BMW’s head of design, Adrian van Hooydonk. The first is this car, which is about the size of a 3 Series sedan and will be ready for the road in 2025.
The car gets a new type of cylindrical battery cell which, according to BMW, should have a 20 percent higher energy density than it does today. BMW has not yet revealed what that means in kilometers between each charge, but the range will increase by about 30 percent from other cars. today. Inside, levers and switches will be reduced to a minimum, and many operations will be performed using buttons on the steering wheel and voice control.
In the concept car, the back seat is designed for two seats, but in the production version there will certainly be versions that seat three in the back. The front seats are installed in a special way, so that legroom in the back is better than in today’s BMWs.
Mercedes: range of more than 750 km
With the Concept CLA, Mercedes-Benz is showing what a new compact electric car will be like that will hit the road in 2025. This will be a four-door compact sedan with a dramatic coupe-like appearance. But the most exciting thing is that the car will have a range of “more than 750 kilometers,” according to the manufacturer.
Mercedes boss Ola Källenius himself says that what you see here is a car that is very close to being production ready.
The car gets an 800-volt electrical system, which primarily means faster charging. The manufacturer states that the car can charge a range of 400 kilometers in 15 minutes. In addition, consumption should be as low as 1.2 kWh of electricity per mile. The car can also supply power from the battery to your home or to charge an electric bike, etc.
The CLA will be the first car on this platform, which will later also offer a station wagon and two compact SUVs. The concept car features rear-wheel drive, but this platform will also have all-wheel drive options. According to Mercedes, the car is “generally ready” for so-called Level 3 autonomous driving, where the driver does not have to follow the road, but can do other things along the way.
Volkswagen: less than 25,000 euros
Volkswagen has previously confirmed that it will bring a new, cheap electric car in 2025. It will cost less than 250,000 euros – in other words, around 250,000 Norwegian kroner. At 4.10 meters bumper to bumper, it will be larger than the current Polo, but somewhat smaller than the ID.3 Electric.
The price is 287 million
Volkswagen is displaying a sports version of the car called the ID GTI at the Munich show. This means that they are transferring the DNA from the famous Golf GTI, which was launched in 1975, to the world of electric cars.
This will also appear in the interior of the car, which could offer, among other things, the classic checkered seat cover from the original GTI. In addition, you can select the so-called “Retro Mode” in the digital dashboard, which will then display the original speedometer and clocks from the second generation Golf GTI.
According to Volkswagen, the ID.2 will have a range of 450 km. In addition, the cheaper version will accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h in 7.0 seconds. By comparison, the original Golf GTI managed this in less than 10 seconds.
So far, Volkswagen has not revealed any technical data for the GTI version.
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