The company plans to use the Rastatt site to manufacture a total of 500 vehicles and lease them with a full-service rent model to selected customers in Germany, France and the Netherlands.
The vehicles, which are modeled upon the current electrified A-Class, will be powered by lithium-ion batteries giving the car a range of more than 200km per charge and will feature electric drive with a top performance of 70KW (95hp) and 290Nm of torque.
The company will integrate the production of the A-Class E-CELL into the series production line for the A-Class in Rastatt, including all the development and production standards of series production of an EV with battery-electric drive system.
In this case, it will include the addition of new consoles for fixing the lithium-ion batteries in the floor structure of the current A-Class and the assembly and commissioning of the lithium-ion batteries at a separate station, with no major changes in the rest of the process.
Between 2009 and 2012, Daimler will extend the existing facilities and build a new bodyshell work hall at the Rastatt plant by investing around EUR600m and spend an additional EUR10m for modification and updating of the paint shop.
