When you consider that, on the high-end electric car front (from £75,000 to £100,000 retail price), Tesla has been left pretty much alone for the past decade, with its recent political, social and financial issues coming to the fore, it is inevitable that firms like Polestar (Volvo), Jaguar and Mercedes-Benz should start to ruffle its feathers. They have witnessed a market that is presently a thin uptake sliver being disrupted by Tesla and they want to capitalise. The EQC sub-brand is Merc’s response.
While it might not seem so important at this stage, the first examples for public consumption are not set to appear until the summer of 2019. Yet, what you see, is what you get. The conservative family car is production-ready and the lines at the company’s Bremen factory are already EQC-focused. Of course, as a solus SUV model at this stage, rest assured, it will be joined by a comprehensive line-up to ensure that Merc can resume its position as a European market leader.
Its primary assault will surround its Lithium-ion battery pack that promises a practical range of 280-miles and a recharge time from ‘empty’ (using a high-speed charger) of around 40-minutes. These figures are virtually common to EQC’s rivals. Using a motor on each axle, the EQC is not only four-wheel-drive, which aids stability, but it also develops a substantial 300kW of power.
As with its rivals, kerbweight is an issue and the EQC tips the scales at 2,425kgs. However, its performance expectations enable 0-60mph to be covered in around 4.8s, while its maximum speed has been governed to just 112mph. Naturally, on-board regeneration of power is possible both from transmission and brake energy recovery systems, which help to extend the range.
Packed with practical technology, the EQC owner will never need to de-ice the car’s glazing in winter, nor clear condensation in summer. Equipped with a haptic accelerator pedal that reacts to driver input to maximise overall efficiency is an industry first. Its connectivity and plethora of driver aids, many of which are geared towards a ‘driverless’ future, are market-leading. The car’s sat-nav has a default route selection that is geared towards pinpointing fast-chargers in the countries where EQC will be sold. Kickstarting a new era for Mercedes-Benz is the result of several decades of research and billions of Euros.
In some respects, it is sad that Merc’s design team seems to have headed down such a neutral pathway, in fact, so neutral that, were the ‘Three-Pointed-Star’ to be removed from the radiator grille, observers would be hard-pushed to tell the car’s origins. However, there is no mistaking the interior detailing, which Merc has been extolling in almost all of its extensive model range for the past 12-18 months.
