Daimler and BMW join forces on EV project

Content provided by BenzInsider.com

Rivals can become the best of friends. At least, they can when they both have something to gain from it.

Too good to be true? You better believe it. Daimler AG and BMW are combining their valued resources into a project known as the Visio.M. It actually involves other major players as well, including the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research which is shelling out almost 11 million euros (or $14 million US greens), the Technical University of Munich and other big names in the technology and automotive industries.

Don’t be misled – it’s not a super EV car dream project that they’re working on. The Visio.M is geared towards the development of a lightweight electric vehicle with some real safety features.

A press release explains that “on the way to mass production of electric vehicles, there are still significant technological hurdles to overcome. Previous small electric vehicles offer only a minimum level of vehicle safety and therefore are not mass-marketable. Electric cars that were derived from gasoline-powered models are usually too heavy and require large and expensive batteries.”

This project is definitely something to look forward to for fans of both luxury car brands, apart from word that 2013 will welcome several releases including BMW’s i-Line and Mercedes-Benz’s E-Cell incarnation of the SLS AMG. Yippie ki-yay, folks.