On one end of the horseshoe-shaped ADNEC convention center in Abu Dhabi, the location of last week's World Future Energy Summit, was my home for the week, the Aloft Hotel, and on the other side of the horseshoe was the main conference entrance. Handy, huh? While I could have walked through the massive horseshoe from my room to the conference, never even stepping foot outdoors, what fun would that have been? So on my first trip cutting across the horseshoe I happened to notice a large Daimler demonstration installation in the middle of said parking lot. I made a mental note of the demonstration area and vowed to return to take one of the EVs for a spin on the streets of Abu Dhabi.

As the official transport partner of WFES 2011, Daimler was on hand to showcase the company’s range of electric vehicles, including the smart Fortwo Electric Drive, the BlueZERO F-CELL, the Mercedes-Benz F 800 Style and the S 500 Plug-In Hybrid.

"This level of participation allows the company to demonstrate its globally unparalleled expertise in sustainable mobility - be it the smart fortwo electric drive city car, the SLS AMG E-CELL super sports car or the Vito E-CELL urban van," the automotive manufacturer said.

The Mercedes-Benz A-Class E-CELL — a car which a Daimler engineer told me the company has no intention of releasing in the U.S. — was also readied for viewing. And thankfully it was also the car Daimler engineers recommended I take for a spin.

With five doors, five seats, the same luggage compartment volume as in the internal combustion engine A-Class, and an impressive 155 mile (250 km) range per charge, the A-Class E-CELL meets all the requirements for an everyday family car.

After powering-up the car and acquainting myself with the controls, we quietly zipped out of the ADNEC parking lot and into the gasoline-dominated streets of Abu Dhabi. I asked my companion from Daimler if he could turn off the air conditioning so I could hear the drivetrain purr, he did, and I found the motor to be about as quiet as any EV I have experienced.

Traffic was pretty heavy and since I really didn't know where I was going, I drove a relatively tentative lap around the neighborhood, but as we neared the entrance to ADNEC, my host asked me with a chuckle whether I wanted to go again (knowing full well I would probably say yes).

On the next lap, as if I had been driving it my whole life, I opened up the A-Class EV a little bit to see what it could do — and I was not disappointed. With a peak output of 70 kW (95 hp), a continuous power rating of 50 kW (68 hp) and a high maximum torque of 290 Nm, the A-Class E-CELL held its own, easily passing cars when it needed to on the busy three-lane road.

In the mild weather in which I test-drove the A-Class EV on Thursday in Abu Dhabi, the car would probably get pretty near its 250 km range. But in the intense heat that grips the area for several months a year, the need for air conditioning would likely reduce battery performance significantly, not to mention the efficiency reduction caused by the temptation to punch the accelerator.

To deal with warmer ambient temperatures, the A-Class E-CELL is equipped with a special thermomanagement system that keeps the 36-kilowatt-hour Tesla-made battery pack cooled to operate within an optimum temperature window. In very high ambient temperature conditions, as would be the case most of the year in Abu Dhabi, the battery cooling system is boosted with the coolant circuit of the air-conditioning system.

One of the most practical features on the A-Class E-CELL is that it can be either recharged at public charging stations or plugged into an ordinary (European) household power socket.

Considering there were only 500 A-Class E-CELLs made in the first production run, driving this car through the streets of Abu Dhabi was a pleasure. And even though Daimler has no intention of releasing the A-Class in North America, something tells me we'll see some iteration of this top-notch EV on this side of the Atlantic in the future.

Reprinted with permission from Earth & Industry