Mercedes A-Class going electric with Tesla's help; for real this time?

Reports of Mercedes-Benz and Tesla building an electric A-Class together are nothing new. In fact, a fleet of 500 A-Class-based E-Cells was built for Europe. Most recently, a Tesla earnings report revealed that Tesla was still working on an all-electric powertrain for an unnamed EV for Daimler, the evolution of a deal that began when Daimler invested in the Silicon Valley automaker in 2009. The two automakers also worked together on the Smart ED.

So, what's this then in a Dutch website? A report on Groen7 says that "a source at Tesla" has revealed that the previously unnamed EV Tesla is busy with (among other things) is an updated, electric version of the new A-Class, one that will perhaps arrive in 2013. We had previously guessed the secret Tesla-Daimler deal would result in an all-electric B-Class, but being wrong there won't stop us from trying to predict the future again: the hints are present that this next A-Class EV will remain a small-scale project. We hope we're proved wrong. 


Source: Autoblog Green