Road Test Mercedes EQC 400 4 Matic: opening salvo

J-C Etter

6 years ago

Mercedes enters the electric stage.

To each their own. An electric SUV, to test the market, to position the brand, to retain early adopters, to scout the development and validation process. And to help achieve the Energy Vehicles required on the chinese market, the largest in the world.

The EQC has however a peculiar genealogy. Circumstances lead the team in charge of developing the GLC SUV to take into account the constraints that would make it ideal for full electrification. In 2015, the Mercedes board of management is presented with the opportunity to develop a first major electric cars – electric B-class and SLS AMG Electric Drive notwithstanding – in only 4 years, instead of the customary 6 year cycle for a brand new, dedicated platform.

The project receives approval, and a a concept is presented at the 2016 Paris Motorshow. After one year of design work, Michael Kelz and his project team embark on a 3 year validation program that will take them from -35 degC in the polar circle to +50 degC in various deserts on the planet.

The EQC is thus intrinsically a GLC SUV married with a an electric powertrain instead of its internal combustion engine. Almost 90% of the body in white are identical. The EQC is an industrial achievement in terms of modularity: it is assembled on the same lines as the GLC, just like an additional engine or trim variant, which affords Mercedes great flexibility in terms of production capacity management.

The EQC is therefore relatively compact. While Audi chose to steer its e-tron toward the “european full size SUV” gauge, 4761 mm in length position the EQC in the midsize segment. At least size-wise. In terms of pricing, Mercedes is going squarely against Audi and Jaguar.

EQC	e-tron	i-Pace
4761	4901	4682
1884	1935	2011 / 2139
1623	1629	1565
2873	2928	2990
500-1460	660	27+656-1445
CHF 84’900	CHF 89’900	CHF 82’800

The battery pack bolted under the GLC body eats into ground clearance over the entire wheelbase, but the lowest point is the rear motor, whose diameter is larger than the differential on a GLC. Mercedes insists on the fact that the EQC is not an all-terrain, off-road SUV. This is visually quite obvious when one looks closely at the dark mass hidden below the visual side skirts.

Mercedes has divided the battery pack in 4 modules of 72 cells located under the body, and two modules of 48 cells stacked under the rear seats, and crowned by power electronics. The pouch-type Lithium Ion cells come from a LG plant in Korea and are made to Mercedes specifications. In the near future, Mercedes will certify the LG Poland factory which supplies also Audi for the e-tron, while CATL is a second source for the chinese market.

Battery pack protection has received a lot of attention during the development phase. At the front, a thick protection rail is tasked to deflect any object lying on the pavement. On the sides, two layers of crumple zones are used to preserve the integrity of the precious cells in the event of a side impact.

The EQC’s battery pack is claimed at 80 kWh of usable energy. This is one illustration of Mercedes’s straight talk strategy on electric cars: no false promises, no disappointments. Like any other manufacturer, Mercedes has to comply with legal requirements and advertise NEDC/WLTP values, but the company also communicates on real world range, and on factors affecting range.

The EQC in the current competitive context:

Model	kWh	Price
Renault Zoe	41	CHF 35’650
Hyundai Ioniq	28	CHF 38’990
VW ID.3 45	>45**	est. CHF 39’000
Nissan Leaf 2	40*	CHF 42’990
BMW i3 120Ah	42.2/37.9*	CHF 41’400
VW ID.3 58 1st	58**	CHF 52’000
Opel Ampera-e	60	CHF 52’700
Hyundai Kona Electric	64**	CHF 46’990
Tesla Model 3 Standard Range +	55	CHF 49’190
Tesla Model 3	74	CHF 59’890
VW ID.3 77	77**	N.C.
Mercedes EQC	80**	CHF 84’900
Jaguar i-Pace	90*	CHF 82’800
Audi e-tron	95/88*	CHF 89’900
Tesla Model S	100**	CHF 107’090

*gross energy content **net/usable energy content

Why only 80 kWh ? The official line is that it is a competitive spec when comparing actual range, but it looks obvious that the platform constraints were a factor. Claimed range is as follows:

	EQC	e-tron	i-Pace
NEDC	445-471	500	N.C.
WLTP	374-417	417	470
Realistic	260-370*	N.C.	275-390**

*according to Mercedes **Asphalte test

For rapid charging, the EQC sustains up to 110 kW via a CCS2 plug, and is partner/shareholder in the ionity network of rapid charging stations. Mercedes also provides an RFID card which simplifies access to the balkanized network of third parties operating on the european continent.

The EQC also features a 7.4 kW on board AC charger. This power level is considered as a cost/space optimum, but a 11 kW should appear on the configurator in the near future. The 22 kW charger available optionally on the Audi e-tron is deemed superfluous by the folks in Stuttgart.

Speaking of Audi, Mercedes is far less aggressive when it comes to charging power. Where Audi claims to maintain 150 kW up to 70%, Mercedes limits power to 110 kW (the pack is in effect only 10% smaller), and sustains this power level only up to around 50% of battery capacity, depending on temperature readings, then winds down progressively.

Mercedes has a battery pre-conditioning function which activates if the destination in the satnav system is a charging station. The EQC then ensures that the battery is in the optimum temperature range at destination (between 25 and 30 degC) to allow peak power. The downside of this strategy is that, if the charging station is not programmed or not available in the satnav directory, no pre-conditioning happens.

This happened to be by case for my visit at the ionity station in Dal, near the Oslo airport. One of the many bugs observed in the Here-powered navigation system made the charger invisible and the EQC unaware. I therefore saw my charge cycle start at 61 kW and power peak at 78 kW, quite briefly. My 27 minutes stop allowed me to raise my charge level from 36 to 75%, or 223 km of computed range.

Mercedes integrates two electric motors in the EQC, one for each drivetrain. The front motor has 7 windings, is optimized for efficiency and features a maximum torque of around 360 Nm. The rear motor has 5 windings, is optimized for peak torque and delivers up to 400 Nm.

At light loads, the EQC operates in front wheel drive mode. If torque requirements exceed 10% of available torque, the rear motor kicks in and ramps as well. The 760 Nm and 408 hp available from the system deliver the expected instantaneous torque surge, as witnessed by the 5.1 seconds claimed to accelerate from le 0 to 100 km/h.

There is caveat though, which is not specific to the EQC. As we drive more high torque electric cars, their response to a swift move from the right foot proves consistently abrupt and unrefined. Tires chirp, necks jolt, bodies squat, and the propensity to understeer is amplified. We are yet to drive an electric car which appears well sorted in this domain. An analogy to engine turbocharging would send us back to the seventies, when a new technical solution delivering massive torque became mainstream, but resulted in peculiar handling and driving experiences. Electric powertrains may be at the 1970s stage in terms of transforming torque into an organic driving experience.

For this very reason, I had to drive the EQC with the ESP system disengaged. The button has vanished from the center console, the function has to be dug up from a submenu in the MBUX interface. Mashing the throttle results in copious wheelspin from the interior wheels, a predictable outcome with open differentials.

The interior of the EQC is a rather nice place to be. The design of the dashboard integrates the now ubiquitous widescreen cockpit. New materials and fabrics are applied, and I found them to be a success. The trend toward vegan interiors is not fully embraced, most trim options retain some patches of textured leather. Passenger room is identical to a GLC, and therefore quite good.

Sound insulation has received sustained attention from the engineering team. The front motor is mounted on bearings tuned to filter the high frequencies coming from an electric machine, and the rear motor housed in a foam shell designed to prevent sound waves from being amplified by the trunk floor. The result is quite convincing. The customary whistling sound of electric cars is quite subdued, and acoustic glass, fitted as standard equipment, helps reduce wind noise. Interior noise is a massive 3dB lower than a GLC.

On norwegian roads (our article on Norway’s EV incentives), the EQC delivers a comfortable and quiet driving experience, where it not for the tire roar amplified by tarmac roughness. The suspension has a fixed setting, with conventional steel springs and shock absorbers at the front, and a simple pneumatic self-levelling system at the rear to maintain ground clearance constant.

Our test loops and the rather draconian norwegian speed limits have not allowed us to explore much of the EQC handling in turns, but the EQC appears to behave in similar ways to its competitors. Mass (2420 kg DIN, 175kg more than the Jaguar i-Pace !) is significant but the low center of gravity results in surprising agility.

Mercedes proposes 5 regeneration modes: D+, D, D-, D- -, et D-Auto. They are selectable through the steering paddles and range from free coasting to hefty deceleration (D–) where single pedal driving is nearly possible. D-Auto regulates regeneration constantly depending on multiple parameters such as speed, topography and distance to the preceding vehicle. I defaulted to the D- – for its predictability.

Maximum regeneration power is 180 kW. Mode D- -, specified at 2.5 m/s², reaches 70% of this value. Action on the brake pedal splits the braking power between the electric system and the steel brakes.

Our test conditions made it difficult to verify to record a depletion curve and estimate range in real life conditions. Norwegian Freeways are limited to 100 km/h, and speed restrictions on twistier roads border on comical. The “realistic” figures claimed by Mercedes (260-370 km) appear plausible. The Cx value of 0.28 is not groundbreaking, but usefully improved over the GLC (0.31). A version of the EQC with 0.27 Cx will be launched in the fourth quarter of 2019.

Mercedes does not shy away from presenting more extreme driving scenarii, such as very cold winter conditions: 5 kW go into heating up the cabin, another 5 kW keep the battery warm. On a 2x 20 km daily commute in 30 minutes each way, and with a 20 kWh/100 km consumption at an average speed of 60 km/h, the heating functions (10 kWh) draw more energy than the driving component (8 kWh). In this extreme case, range would fall down to 180 km …

Mercedes had a clear price target of less than 60’000€ ex-VAT for the german market in order to qualify for the EV government incentives. In Switzerland, the EQC is priced from 84’900 CHF, which could appear high against the i-Pace/e-tron duo, but standard equipment is generous. Except for particular upholstery, no option appears mandatory for a sensible configuration.

This “all inclusive” pricing, uncommon with Mercedes, gives the impression that the EQC is pricey, but upon further examination, its positioning is quite competitive against the i-Pace. The EQC does not suffer from particular weaknesses and will deliver to customers willing to embrace electro-mobility a robust experience. The EQC is the opening salvo from Mercedes: no less than 10 electric cars are in development, including an EQS, EQE and the production version of the EQA shown in Francfort in 2017.

Facing competition – technical specifications

	Mercedes EQC 400	Jaguar I-PACE EV400	Audi e-tron 55
Motors	2 asynchronous electric motors	2 synchronous motors with permanent magnets	2 asynchronous electric motors
System power	408	400	360-408
System torque	760	696	561-664
Transmission	4 RM	4 RM	4 RM
PWR (kg/hp)	(5.93)	5.61	(6.10)
DIN weight (mfr.)	(2420)	2245 (2133) 53% / 47%	(2490)
0-100 km/h (sec.)	5.1	4.8	5.7
Top speed (km/h)	180	200	200
Battery (kWh)	80**	90*	95* (88**)
Length (mm)	4761	4682	4901
Width (mm)	1884/2096	2011/2139	1935
Height (mm)	1623	1565	1616
Wheelbase (mm)	2873	2990	2928
Trunk (L)	500	27+656-1445	660-1725
Tires	NC	245/50 R20	255/55 R 19
Base price (CHF)	84’900	82’800	89’900
Base price (EUR)	71’281	78’380	82’600