Mercedes To Phase Out Gasoline By 2015

arbitraryaardvark sends in a story a couple of weeks back in Yahoo's Ecogeek blog, reporting that Mercedes will phase out petroleum-powered cars by 2015 (mirror), and notes: "Story is unconfirmed but well sourced." "In less than 7 years, Mercedes-Benz plans to ditch petroleum-powered vehicles from its lineup. Focusing on electric, fuel cell, and biofuels, the company is revving up research in alternative fuel sources and efficiency."

Comments

biofuels

[Denger256]

Great so we will use our already short supply of corn to create ethanol. So we have green cars but half of the world will starve to death.

Re:The electric car you want is ready now:

[Greventls]

The Goldwing is a grandpa bike. It isn't a fair comparison. You don't compare a Sports car with a Minivan. A good comparison to the Harley would be the crotch rocket type motocycles.

As long as the batteries last anyway

[Lonewolf666]

Your numbers assume that the batteries last as long as the rest of the car and no replacement after a few years is necessary. The Tesla, however, is built with Li-Ion batteries which tend to age with or without use:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Li-ion_battery#Disadvantages
Now I presume that this part of the Wikipedia article is based on the Lithium cobalt oxide cathodes that were the first to find widespread use, and newer chemistries could solve the problem. But battery life is something you definitely want to know about before buying an electric car.