Mercedes-Benz has smashed up two of its electric vehicles, all in the name of public safety, becoming the world’s first manufacturer to conduct public testing of two electric vehicles crashing into each other.
Rather than use Euro NCAP’s typical 1400kg trolley with an aluminium barrier to replicate another vehicle, Mercedes-Benz thought they’d take things into their own hands to test protection levels for high-voltage components and often flammable battery packs in the event of a crash.
The company enlisted the help of its EQA and the larger EQS SUV and positioned them looking at the other with a 50 per cent overlap, sending them off at 56km/h to replicate a real-world urban crash.
The production vehicles weigh far more than the 1400kg that NCAP normally uses, with the EQA tipping the scales at 2,200kg and the EQS SUV weighing a hefty 3000kg.
Combined with the added 6km/h of speed used in Merc’s testing, the company is confident in stating their passenger safety cell and the onboard emergency kill switches for the high-voltage components and battery packs held up their end of the bargain.
“Safety is part of Mercedes-Benz’s DNA and one of our core commitments to all road users,” says Merc’s CTO, Markus Schafer.
“To us, protecting human lives is not a question of drive system…The recent crash test involving two fully electric vehicles demonstrates this, it proves that all our vehicles have an equally high level of safety, no matter what technology drives them,” he added.
