At its annual shareholder meeting in Berlin, Mercedes-Benz parent company Daimler pledged to develop and launch a battery-powered car with a 500km range before the end of the decade.

Dr. Dieter Zetsche, Daimler's chairman and the head of Mercedes-Benz Cars, said, "The more cars and commercial vehicles are on the road, the more efficiently each one of them must be operated.”

Compatriot company Porsche, despite being a niche manufacturer in terms of sales and vehicle line-up, is already hard at work bringing a similarly long-range electric car to market with a goal of a 2018 launch. However, as a company that sells millions of private and commercial vehicles every year, Daimler needs to move more quickly in order to reduce emissions and cut pollution across its fleet.

By the end of 2016 every current vehicle in the company's Smart range of inner-city cars will be offered as a plug-in electric vehicle and it also intends to bet big on hybrid drivetrains as a short-term solution while full EV technology catches up for larger vehicles. "In 2017, we will have 10 plug-in [hybrid] models on the market," said Dr Zetsche.

"130 years ago, we invented the automobile. Today we are forging ahead with its reinvention. We are, and we will remain, pioneers of mobility."

The 'it' name in electric cars has to ne Tesla. Check out the Model 3.