Last year, Mercedes-Benz conducted a demonstration of its EQS & EQA (both EVs), in a frontal offset crash-test at 56 kmph, with a 50% overlap.
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New Delhi: The biggest factor of the electric vehicle (EV) megatrend is more than the apparent new propulsion technology. It’s about the safety dynamics of an EV, some of which are quite different from internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles. Engineers at Mercedes-Benz, which plans to go all-electric in 2030 in favourable markets, and develop electric-only platforms from 2025, are focusing on 7 elements for the safety of its EVs.
The elements are, closed electrical circuit with separate cables for positive and negative terminal, protection zone concept, enhanced stiffness for housings of High Voltage (HV) components, reinforced HV cables, automatic crash shutdown of the HV system, manual deactivation option for emergency response personnel, and self-monitoring of the HV system.
Naresh Kulkarni, VP, Mercedes-Benz R&D India, highlighted the safety approach for building Mercedes-Benz EVs in his talk at the on-going Symposium of International Automotive Technology (SIAT) organised by Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI), in Pune. Mercedes-Benz, which has a vision for 2050, of zero accidents involving its vehicles, classifies vehicle safety into 4 phases – assist while driving, prepare for possible impact, protection in the event of an accident, and help after the crash.
“We really want to completely eliminate phase 3. We really want to avoid accidents,” Kulkarni said. Optimisation of technologies, and their robustness analysis are key to ensuring the vehicle delivers in its safety promise.
Last year, Mercedes-Benz conducted a demonstration of its EQS & EQA (both EVs), in a frontal offset crash-test at 56 kmph, with a 50% overlap. These vehicles were built after “numerous” CAE evaluations, with +/- 10% variable in speed, and overlap. They were also tested on digital platforms, before prototypes were made basis the findings, he said.
ADAS adoption
Considering that erroneous human behaviour is responsible for most accidents, ADAS features are designed to reduce accidents. Mercedes-Benz, which launched the world’s first L3 autonomous driving technology in its S-Class in 2022 with the ‘Drive Pilot’ feature, plans to enhance it this year. The ‘Drive Pilot’ feature’s maximum speed limit will be able to operate at speeds up to 90 kmph with the tech update.
With all the technology developments happening in the vehicle, leading to the architectural changes, the wiring harness for example could be up to a kilometre long, according to Kulkarni. In Mercedes-Benz’s safety concept vehicle, there are over 20 innovations, he added.
MBRDI, Mercedes-Benz’s largest R&D and engineering hub outside Germany, has been working on some aspect or the other in every model in the OEM’s portfolio, including the safety aspect. And, as safer mobility becomes an even more important topic, and from the perspective of safety in EVs too, it may pay for OEMs to not build safer vehicles, but also build them with a good margin over the applicable norms. For Mercedes-Benz, Kulkarni said, ”Safety is part of our business sustainability strategy”, and added that safe mobility can contribute to sustainability of the planet also.
In a market like India, which unfortunately sees 53 accidents and 19 deaths due to road accidents every hour, safer mobility is definitely the need of the hour now, more than ever before.
