After previewing it in the Vision AMG concept two years ago, Mercedes-Benz AMG has now confirmed the first details for its dedicated electric vehicle platform known as the AMG.EA.
The platform is being developed fully in-house at AMG and is expected to debut in production form next year in a successor to the GT 4-Door Coupe. Prototypes for the new model were recently spotted winter testing in northern Sweden, and AMG has now released some of its own photos of one of the test vehicles.
AMG said the AMG.EA platform will introduce a number of new innovations for the brand, one of which is axial-flux motor technology. Mercedes in 2021 acquired the British company Yasa, which specializes in high-performance electric motors and will likely supply the axial-flux motors for vehicles based on the AMG.EA platform.
Axial-flux motors are both lighter and smaller than conventional radial-flux motors of similar output. Yasa chief Tim Woolmer has previously revealed that a motor weighing just over 50 pounds can deliver close to 500 hp. However, manufacturing the motors is more difficult than for radial-flux motors, making them a lot less cost-effective.
Prototype for first EV fully developed by Mercedes-Benz AMG
AMG also said a high-performance high-voltage battery will be used in the AMG.EA platform. The battery will likely benefit from AMG's F1 program experience, particularly in the areas of energy discharging and recovery, and perhaps also cooling.
AMG will really have to step up its game as it faces stiff competition in the EV space from both newcomers like Tesla and Lucid with their respective Plaid and Sapphire performance options, as well as established marques like Porsche, which has launched a new Turbo GT grade for the Taycan that delivers performance almost on par with the Rimac Nevera hypercar.
