To comply with the stricter CO2-emission rules in countries as the USA and China, more car manufacturers are releasing electric cars.
That has given us cars like the Jaguar I-Pace and the Audi e-Tron, but now Mercedes has joined the party as well. They've even presented...
a special electric model range called EQ. And the first car in that range is the EQC, an electric SUV which bears some resemblance to the...
GLC, the regular conventionally powered car. And that's not a coincidence, because the cars have the same wheelbase and are being built together...
in Bremen. All together.
The most important difference in the production is that the EQC gets a big battery pack, which the GLC doesn't get.
The battery pack is underneath the floor and rear seat, and you don't notice it at all. I'm 2,00 metres tall and there's enough room for me.
The same goes for the rear seat. All the way at the back, you even have 500 litres of luggage space. Nothing groundbreaking, but very good.
The interior has very good finishing and the used materials look and feel very nice. Just like you can expect from Mercedes.
Ergonomically speaking, it's alright as well. Right in front of me, you've got the MBUX-screen. You've got the instrument cluster,
and in the middle of the car you've got the multimedia system. It's all very intuitive and you don't need to get used to it.
At the front, we've got regular springs, but there's air suspension at the back. It's not adaptive, it's only meant for leveling.
The result is a very comfortable and refined chassis. The car is very balanced. If you want more dynamics, you should have some patience.
In a later stadium, they'll make allround air suspension available. And it'll be fully adaptive as well.
It's not a lightweight car and they're able to hide it well, but when you corner in a quick fashion, you'll know it weighs 2.400 kg.
So be it.
The EQC has two motors, one in the front and one in the back. Combined, they produce 408 horsepower and 760 Nm of torque.
They're not entirely the same however. If there's low usage, the front engine kicks in. If you start pushing it, the rear engine kicks in.
The electronics control the switching between engines seemlessly, which makes for a drivetrain which reacts immediately to the throttle.
If you put it in Sport-mode, you'll fly off. Sure, it's not meant to do that, but it's fun that you can do it.
The battery pack has a capacity of 80 kWh which should get you 470 km further according to the NEDC-cycle.
In reality, it will be a lot less. I've used over a quarter of the battery power already, but I'm still able to do 300 km.
So 400 km should be doable. You can charge the batteries in two different ways. At a quickcharger, with 110 kW.
That way, you'll charge in a blink of an eye. If you're not in a hurry, you can visit a regular charger as well. You can charge there with 7,5 kW,
which is still quicker than a Jaguar I-Pace. Mercedes has really focused on the comfort, which is noticeable in the drivetrain and chassis,
but also in the noise. Or rather, the lack of noise. They've used a lot of noise insulation to damp the engine noise.
But they've mounted the engine in a certain way as well. Around the engine is some sort of frame, or a crate,
which the engine is attached to with rubber bearings. So that already processes a lot of vibrations. But the crate has been attached to the car...
with rubber bearing as well. So it has double bearings. The crate is not only meant for noise insulation though, because it's for safety as well.
When you have crash, the electric parts don't get damaged. Also, if you look at the crate, it kind of looks like a combustion engine with an automatic.
That's so they can build it on the same production line as the GLC. However, Mercedes said that it still shares parts with the GLC,
but at a later stage, the electric Mercedes's will have a platform of their own. But that's something for the future.
Where we can hear the electric motors buzz in other electric cars, that noise has been completely cancelled out in here.
The only things you hear are the tires rolling on the tarmac and the wind coming from the vents.
Usually, you don't hear those noises, but because the engine is so quiet, they tend to stand out. First world problems...
Mercedes has added some nice gimmicks to this car. You're able to control engine braking with flappy paddles behind the steering wheel,
but that isn't new. What is new is that there's an automatic mode. It decides, based on the satnav and sensors, how much braking it needs.
It does take some getting used to, but in most situations, it's works very well. Another gimmick is that you're able to set the desired battery...
percentage when arriving at a charging station on your way to a satnav destination. Because it knows all of the charging stations.
So if you want insurance, if you want to have at least 25% of battery percentage left when you come across a charging station,
it'll change the route so that you've got a charging station nearby whenever you need it.
When you're near a charging station which you want to use but the batteries aren't at the right temperature,
it'll warm up the batteries during the last few kilometres. That way, you'll get maximum efficiency when charging.
You might say that's wasting energy and you might be right, but when you drive off with your fully charged batteries,
it'll send the heat to the cockpit. The EQC is available from just over €80.000, so it's around the same price as the Jaguar I-Pace, Audi e-Tron,
or the base version of the Tesla Model S. The performance is similar as well. However, if we put all of the cars next to each other,
the Mercedes might not be the most dynamic, but it's the most comfortable one with the best finishing.
And that's worth something.