Mercedes was back then most likely just interested in patents. Nowadays not much happens at Mercedes in terms of a-mobility, mostly just PR and raking in on go

Mercedes was back then most likely just interested in patents. Nowadays not much happens at Mercedes in terms of a-mobility, mostly just PR and raking in on government subsidies for accelerating adoption of electric cars. The second main reason why German automakers keep a minimum level of electric cars in their portfolio (although most of them can't even be purchased regularly) is to keep the overall average emission levels low enough to meet recent environmental standards. Mercedes and the likes are huge and really really slow moving giants and their main interest is to keep the status quo.