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And over here in the Appliance Department you'll now find the Mercedes-Benz B-Class Electric Drive, the firm's first proper, volume-production electric car: Five-seats, five doors, front-wheel drive, 85 miles of range, 42 grand or so before tax credits at the state and federal level. In all respects, just another ship in Mercedes' fleet.
現在，你將會在家電部找到梅賽德斯-奔馳(Mercedes-Benz) B級Electric Drive――該公司第一款真正意義上的、投入量產的電動車型。該款車為五門五座設計，前輪驅動，續航里程為85英里（約合135公里），在享受聯邦及州政府稅收優惠前的售價為42,000美元。從各個方面來看，它都是奔馳系列車型的一名新成員。
First impression: The B-ED reeks of the same high-class domesticity as Mercedes' R-Class and M-Class breeders. Similar seats, same spill-resistant textures, mostly the same instruments and switchgear, including the knobby dealy in the center console to dial in navi, audio and vehicle systems. Love it or hate it, there, too, is Mercedes' 7-inch color display floating above ball vents in the dash center, looking like an abandoned iPad.
先說說第一印象：B級Electric Drive具有與其前輩奔馳R級與M級車型相同的高檔家用性能。它們選用了類似的座椅和同樣的防潑濺面料，儀表和開關裝置也大致相同，其中包括中控臺上那個用來調節導航、音響和車載系統的圓鼓鼓的按鈕。不管你喜歡還是討厭，這款車儀表臺上圓形通風口的上方也有一塊七英寸的懸浮式彩色顯示屏，它看上去就像一部報廢的iPad。
In any event, the B-ED is not weird. Actually, it couldn't be more familiar and obvious. The accelerator pedal might as well have 'Schnell' written on it.
不管怎樣，B級Electric Drive都不算怪異。實際上，它給人的印象是再熟悉和明顯不過的。它的油門踏板上倒不如寫上“Schnell”（譯注：該詞為快速地之意）。
Got kids? Got a garage? Commute to the train station? Don't want to have to park a big German blimp every time you go out? Believe me, if your first Mercedes had a plug, you wouldn't be missing a thing.
家有孩子？有車庫？需經常往返于火車站？不想每次都駕駛一輛龐大的德系車外出？相信我，如果你的第一輛奔馳是款電動汽車，你不會錯過什么的。
Redesigned in 2011, the B-Class (tall family wagon) has been unavailable in the U.S. (but yes for Mexico and Canada). As part of the platform redesign, different versions of the vehicle floor stampings were created to accommodate batteries or compressed natural-gas storage. The B will be available in the States only as an EV. That fact, it's fair to say, won't supercharge model sales.
奔馳B級車型（高車座家用旅行車）在2011年經過了重新設計，一直未在美國市場出售（但在墨西哥和加拿大有售）。作為平臺重新設計的變動之一，不同版本的底盤沖壓件被設計出來以容納電池或壓縮天然氣儲存容器。B級車型在美國將只出售電動版。公平地說，這一點將無法刺激車型的銷量。
Mercedes execs are realistic. When I asked project manager Anton Sonntag how many he thought the company could sell, he shrugged and said: 'As many as people will buy.'
奔馳的管理者講究實際。筆者向該公司項目經理安東・松塔格(Anton Sonntag)詢問他認為這款車能賣出多少時，他聳了聳肩，答道：“大家想買多少就能賣多少。”
The B-ED is, realists would note, a 'compliance car.' The phrase refers to a low- or zero-emission vehicle model, built in whatever numbers necessary to satisfy some portion of California's clean-vehicle quota and typically sold only in California and 10 other clean-air states. The California Air Resources Board obliges major manufacturers to sell an incrementally rising percentage of advanced technology ZEV cars even if, and most assuredly when, they lose money on them.
注重實際的人可能會說，B級Electric Drive是一款“合規車”。這個詞指的是低排放或零排放車型，制造商要生產必要數量的車輛以達到自己在加州潔 能源車輛配額中的份額。這些車通常只在加州和另外10個制訂了潔 空氣法規的州出售。加州空氣資源委員會(The California Air Resources Board)強制主要汽車制造商銷售越來越高比例的先進技術零排放車型，即使（而且幾乎肯定就會如此）他們要做虧本買賣。
Compliance cars put something of a strain on auto makers' communications departments, because the unspoken truth is so, um, unspeakable. So let's divide the B-ED's media debut last week in Silicon Valley into text and subtext. The subtext was regulatory compliance, and of a very expedient variety, too: Rather than rely on in-house R&D, Mercedes essentially contracted with Tesla -- the Silicon Valley car maker and acknowledged leader in electric automobiles -- to provide the EV architecture (motor, transmission, battery, power electronics) for its electron-fired B-Class.
合規車給汽車制造商的公關部門帶來了一些壓力，因為不言而喻的事實是…不可言說。如果把B級Electric Drive前不久在硅谷的媒體首秀分為字面意義與言外之意的話，那么它的言外之意就是遵從法規，而且是權且遵從。奔馳并未動用自身的研發力量，而是基本上將研發外包給硅谷汽車制造商、公認的電動汽車領導者特斯拉，由后者為其B級電動車提供電動汽車的架構（發動機、傳動系統、電池及電力電子設備）。
The B-Class ED is the product of a technology-sharing alliance between Tesla and Daimler that goes back to Mercedes' 2009 investment. Tesla will make the B-Class battery pack, power management system and thrashy bits at the factory in Fremont, Calif., and ship them to Germany for final vehicle assembly.
B級Electric Drive是特斯拉與戴姆勒(Daimler)之間技術共享聯盟的產物，二者之間的合作還要追溯至2009年奔馳對特斯拉的投資。特斯拉將在加州弗里蒙特(Fremont)的工廠生產電池組、電源管理系統及電動機，最后把它們運到德國進行組裝。
Typically with advanced technology/compliance car projects -- oh, the Honda Fit EV, for example -- the manufacturer will convert an existing vehicle into an EV or plug-in EV, as cost effectively as possible. Then it will make, lease and sell as many units as it takes, at whatever price, to hit the company's compliance targets. Then, God willing, it will shut up about it, because each unit sold loses money. When these cars come up in conversation, auto executives start looking at their shoes.
通常來說，對于先進技術/合規汽車項目――比如說本田(Honda)的飛度電動車――制造商會以盡可能低的成本將現有車型改為純電動汽車或插電式電動汽車。為實現公司的合規目標，它們會生產、租賃和銷售所需數量的車輛，也不管價格是多少。如果情況允許，它們會閉口不提那些車型，因為賣出的每一輛車都是虧本生意。當那些車型出現在談話中時，汽車公司的管理者就會開始低頭不語。
But, from my tour of California's electric-car culture two weeks ago, I can tell you that is changing. As a class, these vehicles have fully outgrown whatever technical adolescence made them awkward in the first decade of this century. I've driven a gas-powered B-Class in Europe, and the Tesla-powered version is massively better.
不過，從我前不久對加州電動汽車文化的親身體驗來看，我能告訴你這種情況正發生改變。作為一種汽車類型，電動汽車已經獲得充分發展，不再像在本世紀頭10年那樣顯得技術生澀了。我曾在歐洲開過奔馳B級天然氣動力車，相比之下特斯拉電動版的車型要好得多。
One of these days, one of these compliance cars is going to break out, sales-wise. The B-Class ED, which will sell in all 50 states, could be the one. While it might have emerged out of a crass effort at compliance, the B-ED just shines, a completely on-point premium family electric that braids Tesla's and Mercedes' DNA so convincingly the car might as well be called the Model B.
總有一天，會有一款合規車迎來銷量的爆發。將在美國所有50個州銷售的B級Electric Drive就可能是這么一款車。盡管它也許是應對監管的權宜之舉帶來的產物，但它依然表現出眾，是一款不折不扣的高檔家用電動車。它令人信服地將特斯拉與梅賽德斯的DNA融于一身，倒不如就把它叫做Model B吧。
The drive parts are Tesla's devising, including a 28 kwh lithium battery pack and power-management system. An electric motor rated at 132 kW, or 177 horsepower, and 251 pound-feet of torque, drive the front wheels through a single-ratio transmission. That is enough twist to pull the 3,924-pound vehicle to 60 mph in less than 8 seconds, while top speed is limited to 100 mph. Among its curiosities is the car's four levels of regenerative braking, accessed through the steering wheel-mounted paddles. On the most aggressive setting, the car slows crisply when you lift your foot off the accelerator, but it doesn't have the one-pedal operation of its rival, BMW i3.
它的動力系統出自特斯拉的設計，包括容量為28千瓦時的電池組和電池管理系統。它搭載132千瓦（177匹馬力）功率的電動機，扭矩為339牛米，無級變速前輪驅動。這一扭矩足以使這輛重3,924磅（約合1,780千克）的汽車在不到八秒的時間內加速到百公里，同時它的最高速度被限定在100英里/小時（約合160公里/小時）。在這款車的令人奇怪之處中，有一點是它通過方向盤上的撥片實現的四檔再生制動系統。在最極端的情況下，把腳從油門上一放下，車子就會迅速減速，但是它不具備競爭對手寶馬(BMW) i3的單踏板控制功能。
The B-ED doesn't have supercharging capacity. With a 220V/40A Level 2 charger, it takes 3.5 hours to fully charge a depleted battery, says Mercedes, and 2 hours to raise levels to 60%.
B級Electric Drive不具備迅速充電能力。梅賽德斯稱，使用220伏/40安的二級充電樁充電的話，充滿電量耗盡的電池需要三個半小時，充到60%的電量需要兩小時。
Throughout my 50-mile test drive in the Bay area, the B-ED had great spirit under the spur. And due to its low center of gravity -- the dense battery pack buried in the floor -- the B-ED rides well and corners with a lot more confidence than its gas-powered twin, even though the electric weighs 700 pounds more.
筆者在灣區試駕了50英里（約合80公里），B級Electric Drive在加速情況下動力十足。由于它重心低――密集的電池組隱藏在底盤內――它行駛順暢，轉彎時也比天然氣動力的同款車型更從容，盡管它還要更重700磅（約合315公斤）。
Speaking of weight: The steel-bodied B-ED competes directly with BMW's new and radical, carbon-fiber and plastic-bodied BMW i3. Both are next-generation electric family cars priced in the low $40,000s, and both have roughly the same range, power and comparable performance. And yet the two cars are wildly different, reflecting the industrial strategies behind them. The BMW's advanced-materials approach to weight saving netted them a car weighing a mere 2,860 pounds, fully 1,064 pounds lighter than the B-ED.
說到車重：采用鋼材料車體的B級Electric Drive與采用塑料材質車體的寶馬i3是直接競爭者。二者都是定價在40,000美元出頭的新一代家用電動汽車，續航里程、動力大致相同，性能也不相上下。然而，這兩款車又相差甚遠，反映了各自背后不同的行業策略。寶馬i3采用了尖端材料，該款車的重量只有2,860磅（約合1,300 公斤），比B級Electric Drive輕了1,064磅（約合480公斤）。
The Mercedes' approach is more conservative, fiscally and technically. And we'll have to wait to see the comparative results. These are amazing, uncertain times in appliance sales.
梅賽德斯的策略則更為保守，從財政與技術上來看都是如此。我們還得等待一段時日才能看到它們的比較結果。這將是家電銷售中令人驚嘆而又不可捉摸的一段時光。
