• Mercedes-Benz has been reportedly toying with the idea of integrating a small 1.0-liter turbocharged engine into its electric vehicles (EVs).
• The purpose of this is to presumably extend their range.
• However, the German automaker has pulled the plug off the project.

Citing inside sources within Mercedes-Benz, Autocar claimed the luxury automaker’s initial plan was to install a specially-tailored two-cylinder version of the M254 four-cylinder engine with an exhaust system in front of its EVs. The petrol-fed unit with an unspecified fuel capacity was initially intended to serve as a generator whenever the car is running on low power.

The hardware does not provide a performance boost because it was only designed as a backup and it had no direct link to the wheels. One of the test mules used for the project was a rear-wheel drive EQS 450+ and the implementation of the system has reportedly led to the bump of its range to 487 miles.

However, Mercedes eventually decided against the range extender. The company said the cost of the “transitional technology” far outweighed its benefits, and it made more practical sense to just stick with its cost-effective battery-electric drivetrains.

One of the primary concerns of the luxury vehicle maker lay in the setup’s cost of production. There’s also the dilemma around the significant weight added by the upgrade, which could potentially dampen the performance of the car equipped with it.

The tech follows the practice of some Chinese EVs like Li Auto to help ease the range anxiety of users, especially when going to areas with inadequate charging infrastructures.