I don’t think I give Mercedes enough credit. I’ve never really liked the styling on their cars and they always seemed a little too rich for me. But the fact is they have a history of innovation and smart business decisions. So it shouldn’t surprise me as much as it does that they’re making such a ridiculous push for total nonreliance on gasoline within seven years.

They’ve already got lots of prototypes, technologies, and halfway products out there, but their next big push will probably be a fully electric, totally zero-emissions vehicle, probably around 2010 when everyone else is releasing theirs as well. Of course, you could always just track down an EV1 and secretly retrofit it. [via EcoGeek]