The Avatar-themed Mercedes-Benz AVTR concept EV has debuted
Just in time for the premiere of Avatar: The Way of Water, the Mercedes-Benz Vision AVTR Concept EV has arrived. First revealed at CES 2020, the German marque’s futuristic concept makes a return to promote the new film as well as showcase its creative features inspired by the world of Pandora.
About a year after production began in 2018 for Avatar: The Way of Water, the Mercedes-Benz Vision AVTR Concept EV project started. When developing the animals, locations, sets, and effects for Pandora, Mercedes’ automotive designers collaborated with the production designers, traveling to each other’s studios in both Germany and California.
Weta FX, which is handling all of the visual effects work for the new film, provided Mercedes with hundreds of drawings. Mercedes then got to see various phases of the movie’s creation. In the film’s Pandora universe, there are these magnificent flying beasts known as banshees, which the AVTR takes design cues from. On the rear, 33 individually regulated flaps naturally move when the vehicle is in motion, resembling gills. Even the glowing portions of the car’s wheels are insane, inspired by the woodsprites from Pandora’s holy tree.
The entire dashboard of the Mercedes-Benz Vision AVTR concept EV is illuminated and displays information that’s projected by overhead projectors. The AVTR employs four electric motors within each of its enormous wheels. The ability of each engine and wheel to function separately from the others allows the EV to move sideways or virtually entirely inside the confines of its own wheelbase, and both the driver and the passenger may steer the car by turning a central control knob, which moves the car in all directions.
According to Mercedes, the motors are claimed to output 350 kilowatts, giving it just a little over 469 horsepower. The battery pack forgoes the existing industry standard lithium-ion in favor of an organic cell chemistry based on graphene, which can be created without the need of hazardous materials, and is recyclable. Mercedes states that charging a battery with a 100 kilowatt-hour capacity would only take 15 minutes.
In one of the most amusing concepts ever created, the Vision AVTR is truly something special. We could only imagine if something this spectacular would ever go into production. Maybe in another universe..
