Mercedes GLE Plug-In to Get Impressive 62 Mile Electric Range

The 2019 Mercedes-Benz GLE will spawn a plug-in hybrid variant with an impressive 62-miles of pure electric range.

Ola Kallenius, currently Mercedes’ head of research and development and the soon-to-be successor of longtime company chairman Dieter Zetsche, revealed the hybrid crossover’s impressive electric range in a recent interview with Automotive News.

“We are now in the generation where we switching over from our 30 km hybrids to 50 km. The GLE will be the first car with a 100-km (62 mile) range on a plug-in hybrid in the WLTP cycle,” Kallenius told the publication.

This 62-mile plug-in system is part of Mercedes’ next-generation of eDrive hybrid systems, which Mercedes is hoping to bring to market by 2020.

The GLE 450, which already debuted at the recent Paris Motor Show, will come with a 3.0-liter turbocharged inline-six paired with a 48V mild hybrid system. Mercedes is working on rolling the 48V mild hybrid tech out across its range, Kallenius told us in an interview earlier this year, forming one pillar of a three-pronged EV approach that also includes pure electric cars and plug-ins.

“We’re going to phase in 48V technology, as the base technology pretty much on everything across the world,” the Swedish executive told AutoGuide before elaborating on its plug-in plans and EV plans.

“Next step there, and this is where the differentiation and AMG and maybe a series car comes into play are the plug-in hybrids. AMG has said they are going to go plug-in hybrid in the future, and there we’re going to develop a specific performance oriented plug-in hybrid, which is more biased towards performance than the series cars which is more biased towards range. And then of course with the EQ family we’re going electric in both SUV and sedan positions across the portfolio.”

The AMG plug-in Kallenius is referencing is the forthcoming hybrid variant of the AMG GT sedan, which is also expected to tap the next-generation eDrive plug-in system. The concept version of the plug-in AMG sedan made a wild 805 hp from its twin-turbo 4.0-liter V8 and hybrid system, so the production version should be similarly powerful. The non-hybrid AMG GT 63 S, which features the same 4.0-liter, makes 630 hp.

Keep an eye out for the Mercedes GLE plug-in to debut sometime in late 2019 before going on sale in 2020. More 48V-equipped vehicles from Mercedes are to be expected in the coming years as well, along with the aforementioned AMG plug-in, an A-Class plug-in and more.

[Source: Automotive News]

Discuss this story on our Mercedes-Benz Forum.