Mercedes makes the right call on LFP
- Matthias Schmidt
- 1 day ago
- 2 min read
Mercedes is proving that being the only German premium OEM to offer LFP batteries across Europe has no negative impact on image or, more importantly, new volumes.
The rollout of the software-defined vehicle MMA-based Mercedes CLA EQ all-electric model, across Western Europe, is not only performing well, but it is becoming the leading premium electric model over the past months.
While the likes of BMW have said they are hesitant to offer the less costly chemistry, which partly suffers from negative trade-offs such as less stable charging across various temperatures, improvements in thermal management are narrowing those trade-offs, and are paying off for Mercedes, with consumers none the wiser to what they are sitting on.
Offering a premium-brand model with strong pricing, alongside the low costs of LFP chemistry compared to NMC, is likely to remove any margin-dilutive elements from the model.
The BEV model comes with a just 6.7% price premium over the entry-level ICE model in Germany.
Expect BMW and Audi to be closely tracking the progress of the CLA.
Audi confirmed to us that the Q4 model update won't feature LFP batteries, while the sister ID.3 MEB model will package the cells for the first time starting this summer in the model refresh. The question should no longer be, why is Mercedes offering LFP cells in a premium model, but why are Audi and BMW not doing this?
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Scope: Western Europe's 18 Markets: EU Member States prior to the 2004 enlargement, plus EFTA markets Norway, Switzerland, Iceland, plus UK – accounting for 90% of the enlarged European region.
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