Mercedes-Benz has announced its latest EV that will be offered in Europe and is set to start production this year.

The car is the new A-Class E-CELL electric car which is designed for urban areas. The E-CELL is based on the gasoline-powered 5-door A-Class car already in production. The new electric car has five seats with enough interior room to take five adults and cargo. The new vehicle uses lithium-ion batteries and has a driving range of 124 miles when the batteries are fully charged.

Power for the vehicle comes from an electric engine that produces a peak output of 95hp and 214 lb-ft of torque. The continuous power rating for the vehicle is 68hp. The top speed for the car is electronically limited to 93 mph.

Mercedes-Benz chose lithium-ion batteries due to energy density that is 30% greater than NiMH batteries technology and able to offer 50% more power density than the NiMH batteries. The E-CELL has a pair of lithium ion batteries with a total to 36kWh of power inside. The battery packs are cooled by low-temperature circulating fluid.

The vehicle can be charged from a standard wall outlet in a home, roadside charging stations, and a special three-phase socket in a wall box. On a single-phase 230V wall outlet the battery packs can be charged enough to drive 100km in eight hours. Using the three-phase wall box or roadside charger the same driving range takes three hours.

The A-Class E-CELL owes some of its performance and handling to the fact that the battery packs are integrated into the floor sandwich layout of the vehicle rather than being crammed into the trunk or behind the seats of the vehicle. The placement of the battery also puts them outside of crumple zones making the vehicle safer in the event of an accident.

"Over our almost 125-year history, we have accumulated extensive experience and knowhow in the area of electric vehicles, including both battery and fuel-cell. This knowhow has already provided the basis for getting two electric cars for everyday use onto the road: the smart fortwo electric drive, and the B Class F CELL,” says Dr Thomas Weber, the Daimler AG Board of Management member responsible for Group Research and Development Mercedes-Benz Cars. “The story now continues with our third electric car, the A Class E CELL., whose start of production is scheduled for autumn this year. The new car is a battery-driven electric Mercedes that enlarges our portfolio and offers our customers the kind of driving pleasure, comfort and safety that they have come to expect.”

While the A-Class E-Cell is definitely a more “pedestrian” EV, Mercedes was talking up a high-performance EV based on the SLS Gullwing to battle the Tesla Roadster back in December of 2009.