50,000 Mercedes-Benz EQC To Be Produced This Year

It's not easy to introduce electric cars at a high scale - large OEMs are learning the hard way.

Mar 7, 2020 at 12:50pm ET

Earlier this year we heard that Mercedes-Benz's troubles with lithium-ion battery supplies threatened the planned production rate of the all-electric EQC model. The company admits that production of the EQC is a "learning curve".

Mercedes-Benz R&D board member Markus Schafer recently said that the company is back on track with EQC production at a rate that should allow it to achieve 50,000 EQC units in 2020.

"It’s definitely a new game, dealing with new platforms, dealing with an EV. The issue was not driven by the factory or production process but rather from the battery factory and battery equipment."

The main problem seems to be battery constraints from LG Chem's plant in Poland - hopefully now solved for good.

“The ramping up of the battery plant with €700m investment in LG Chem was definitely a challenge and limiting factor. So far, we have overcome the issues and are planning significant numbers for the EQC - returning to the initial number of 50,000 we expected for this year.”

The Mercedes-Benz EQC was not the only model affected by production constraints in recent months. Other reports were about the Jaguar I-PACE and Audi e-tron.

Hopefully, once Mercedes-Benz ramps up the EQC, it will finally be introduced also in North America.