2020 Mercedes-Benz EQC 400: On the Road in the Electric SUV
2020 Mercedes-Benz EQC 400 - The Car Guide had a unique opportunity to ride along in Mercedes-Benz’s all-new SUV on the roads near Las Vegas, just prior to the car’s official North American premiere at CES.
2020 Mercedes-Benz EQC 400 - The Car Guide had a unique opportunity to ride along in Mercedes-Benz’s all-new SUV on the roads near Las Vegas, just prior to the car’s official North American premiere at CES.
2020 Mercedes-Benz EQC 400 -
Mercedes-Benz has stated that all its electric vehicles will be designated as EQ models and, as the EQC will be built on the same production line as the GLC, that’s how the all-electric SUV got its name. The number 400 refers to the 400-kilometre range initially stated for the EQC by the German carmaker.
2020 Mercedes-Benz EQC 400 - The exterior design is pure SUV, and the EQC is powered by two liquid-cooled electric motors that generate a total of 408 horsepower and 564 pound-feet of torque.
2020 Mercedes-Benz EQC 400 - Power comes from an 80-kWh battery pack, developed by Deutsche Accumotive, that weighs just less than 650 kilograms, and the overall weight of the vehicle is 2,450 kilograms.
2020 Mercedes-Benz EQC 400 - If you have read our recent reviews of the 2019 Audi e-tron quattro electric SUV, you will notice that the above numbers are remarkably similar, with the exception that the Audi has a 95-kWh battery pack.
2020 Mercedes-Benz EQC 400 - We did not get to drive the EQC, we simply rode along as it was driven by Bastian Schult, the engineer that conducted most of the testing for this vehicle. However, even from the passenger side, the experience was remarkably similar to our recent drive of the Audi e-tron quattro.
2020 Mercedes-Benz EQC 400 - The EQC pulls away strongly, thanks to its 564 pound-feet of torque and the fact that the rear-axle electric motor is more powerful than the front one, giving the vehicle a nice rearward bias when the throttle is pressed hard. In more relaxed driving, only the front motor pulls the EQC along. The claimed 0-100 km/h time is 5.1 seconds.
2020 Mercedes-Benz EQC 400 - The EQC is also very, very quiet, much quieter than the Jaguar I-PACE and it seemed just as quiet as the Audi. You don’t really hear the electric motors at work, just wind and tire noise and that’s all. When I asked Bastian Schult what was done to make the EQC so quiet and smooth, he replied that they elected to link the front electric motor on rubber mounts to a sub-frame, which is also rubber-mounted to the chassis. This double insulation, along with a cover placed on the rear electric motor, accounts for the quietness and the smoothness of the EQC.
2020 Mercedes-Benz EQC 400 - The cabin of the EQC is remarkably similar to other recent Mercedes-Benz vehicles that feature the German carmaker’s new MBUX infotainment system. The first 10.2-inch display replicates the conventional instrument cluster and the second is the interface for the infotainment system to which EQC-specific graphics have been added showing the vehicle’s range, energy consumption and location of nearby charging stations.
2020 Mercedes-Benz EQC 400 - The cabin of the EQC is remarkably similar to other recent Mercedes-Benz vehicles that feature the German carmaker’s new MBUX infotainment system. The first 10.2-inch display replicates the conventional instrument cluster and the second is the interface for the infotainment system to which EQC-specific graphics have been added showing the vehicle’s range, energy consumption and location of nearby charging stations.
2020 Mercedes-Benz EQC 400 - The cabin of the EQC is remarkably similar to other recent Mercedes-Benz vehicles that feature the German carmaker’s new MBUX infotainment system. The first 10.2-inch display replicates the conventional instrument cluster and the second is the interface for the infotainment system to which EQC-specific graphics have been added showing the vehicle’s range, energy consumption and location of nearby charging stations.
2020 Mercedes-Benz EQC 400 - The cabin of the EQC is remarkably similar to other recent Mercedes-Benz vehicles that feature the German carmaker’s new MBUX infotainment system. The first 10.2-inch display replicates the conventional instrument cluster and the second is the interface for the infotainment system to which EQC-specific graphics have been added showing the vehicle’s range, energy consumption and location of nearby charging stations.
2020 Mercedes-Benz EQC 400 - We’ll have more on the 2020 Mercedes-Benz EQC as soon as we can get behind the wheel, which should happen sometime in 2019. Mercedes-Benz also plans to introduce a total of 10 electric vehicles to the market before the end of 2022, and we’ll be sure to keep you posted on those as well.
