Mercedes-Benz EQC: luxury giant plugs in to electric trend
You didn’t think the giants of the car world were going to let Tesla have all the fun, did you?
You didn’t think the giants of the car world were going to let space-bonkers billionaire Elon Musk have it all his way forever, did you?
Yes, Tesla was the first to pull off what once seemed hugely unlikely (ie. somehow rebranding electric cars from the sandals-and-socks of the car world into some of the most desirable vehicles on the planet), but its efforts — and its booming global sales results — weren’t going to go unnoticed for long.
The EQC marks Mercedes’ first true entrant into this growing EV world (Audi and BMW have similar products queued too). And unlike with Tesla, the Benz’s best and most effective weapon is not something you can see but everything you can’t.
The single greatest strength of the EQC is the fact it really doesn’t look like an electric vehicle at all. You’ll find no bizarre skywards-opening doors here, as you would on a Tesla Model X. And you won’t find any strange funnels or scoops designed to reduce drag either.
What you will find is a car that looks a lot like any other Mercedes-Benz SUV, and specifically the GLC, with which the EQC shares a production facility — though the brand insists its first production EV is “85 per cent different” from the car it so closely resembles.
Some might see that as a missed opportunity to really differentiate the EQC — the first car to arrive under Mercedes’ EV-only EQ sub-brand. But it actually feels like a stroke of genius — the step from a combustion engine into an electric car has never looked so easy to navigate.
There are some nods to its green credentials, of course. For one, there are new lighting strips that run the full width of the EQC, one at the bonnet and one at the boot, giving the EV a nighttime signature unique to EQ cars. The familiar Benz interior is now also wrapped in a soft and silky vegan material sourced from recycled plastics.
Elsewhere, though, it’s business as usual, inside and out. If you want people to know you’re driving an electric car, you’ll have to do something you’ve never needed to, and that is actually tell them. A novel idea, given how electric cars and hybrids are normally styled, but one we truly hope takes off.
Under that familiar shape, though, lurks a powertrain completely new for Mercedes, with two electric motors — one at each end — combining to deliver 300kW and 760Nm of petrol-free power. Plant your right foot and the EQC will climb in near-silence to 100km/h in just 5.1 seconds. That’s fast for an SUV of this size and weight, but thanks to the oodles of torque available from the moment you press the accelerator, it feels even faster in real life.
Those motors are powered by a sizeable 80kWh battery pack which should produce a real-world range of around 450km from every charge. The Benz is set up for 110kW charging, too, which means you can plug into Australia’s growing network of fast chargers to regain 80 per cent battery capacity in around 40 minutes.
Most importantly though, there’s no obvious trade-off for going green. The EQC drives as well as — or in the case of the super-comfortable ride, actually better than — any other Mercedes-badged SUV. The ride is sublime, with air suspension fitted at the rear giving the EQC a velvet-wrapped drive experience that absorbs and disposes of road imperfections so effectively it feels more like the flagship S-Class than it does a mid-spec SUV.
The location of the batteries — hidden under the floor — helps lower the centre of gravity too, giving the EQC more poise around corners than you’d ever expect from a two-tonne-plus vehicle.
The top speed is limited to 180km/h, which is more than fast enough to incinerate your licence in Australia but still not a patch on the 250km/h-plus offered by the brand’s combustion-powered range. Batteries have their drawbacks, then, one being they will drain like a tub with the plug pulled out when driven at super-fast speeds.
Finally, much clever engineering work has gone into reducing road and motor noise, with additional sound deadening in the wheel arche, and new covers over the rear motor to help eliminate background whirring.
In just the single EQ400 trim level, Mercedes’ all-electric SUV should start around $140,000 when it arrives towards the end of October as the first of seven new EQ models expected by 2022.
The only question now is whether Tesla can weather the coming electrical storm.
MERCEDES-BENZ EQC
Engine: Twin electric motors
Power: 300kW
Torque: 760Nm
0 to 100km/h: 5.1 seconds
Top speed: 180km/h
Price: $140,000 (est)
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