Daimler to Reconfigure All Major Production for EVs

2024 – that’s the year German carmaker Mercedes will begin mass-producing electric-vehicles and batteries in all its major plants in Germany, Romania and China. The move will mark the beginning of a “swift global scale-up of electric motors,” a top Mercedes manager said when the announcement was made.

The carmaker hopes to become a fully electric brand by the end of the decade, market conditions permitting. Europe will ban new registrations of conventional combustion-engine vehicles as of 2035. Mercedes produces a comparatively high proportion of the components for its cars itself.

“Mercedes’ announcement is important for two reasons,” says automotive expert Stefan Di Bitonto from Germany Trade & Invest. “Firstly, it shows how totally committed German carmakers now are to electric mobility. And secondly, it’s an example of the fact that those carmakers prefer to source components as close to home as possible, so OEMs that are on the ground in Germany enjoy a potentially decisive advantage.”