Why we’re running it: The EQC won our EV SUV mega-test 12 months ago, but is it an Audi, Jaguar and Tesla beater in everyday life?
Month 4 - Month 3 - Month 2 - Month 1 - Specs
Life with a Mercedes-Benz EQC: Month 4
The best part of EV ownership? - 17 February 2020
A lot is written on the inconvenience of public charging but not enough on the ease of driving home, plugging in, going to bed and waking up with a full ‘tank’. It’s six months since I’ve visited a fuel station, and I haven’t missed the time loss or mucky hands one bit. There are pros and cons to EVs, but if you’re lucky enough to have a drive, this is a definite plus.
Mileage: 2309
Feeling toasty comes at a hefty price, even if you can charge for free - 10 February 2021
Yes, it has been cold lately, with frost a regular fixture and the occasional flurry of snow paralysing the roads even in these locked-down times.
No big deal, you might think; it happens every year. But for an EV driver, the cold really is the enemy. This latest scenario has been fascinating for noting the impact that it has had on the EQC’s range. In the simplest terms, the answer appears to be the immediate loss of 25 miles of predicted range, or around 15% of the battery’s charge when it’s above about 10deg C.
In my experience, that’s actually an impressive result for the EQC in comparison to other EVs, with the average loss I’ve noted across a variety of cars being 15-25%. It has been significant enough in all cases for us to highlight this potential scenario to would-be buyers.
But perhaps more notable was the ongoing impact of the cold on range from thereon. ‘Need’ and ‘nice to do’ are very different, of course, and it’s true that I could have used my hands and worn more clothes, but in this £70,000 premium car it seemed foolish not to use the electric systems to defrost the screens, warm the cabin and waft heat at my backside.
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Based on this then the realistic range is 200 miles. The reason for getting the extra miles on the way back is probably due to lack of preconditioning, I find that if I do this at home I will get more range on the outward journey.
The collisions with the cyclist highlights the big problem with slow-moving EVs. So many pedestrians/cyclists use their ears to check if the road is clear and don't hear silent EVs. Yes, I know the rules are being changed so that EVs have to make a sound at low speed, but this Merc was clearly built prior.
Nope, Acoustic Vehicle Alerting Systems have been mandated on EVs since July 2019. I think they're still manually disable-able (not for much longer) but you have to do this every time the car starts so I'd be surprised if Jim had turned his off.
They're bloody useless though. Most of the external noise of a modern combustion car comes from the tyres, not the engine. Above 5mph, EVs are not silent. If you're driving at 10mph+ and someone can't hear your tyres, they won't hear the engine or AVAS either. As demonstrated here.
In my experience, all the AVAS really accomplishes is mild irritation for the occupants if the window's open or the car has poor insulation.
Seriously, Jim - are you still navigating by postcode? In all new Mercs you can simply tell the SatNav the What3Words geolocation and it will take you straight there. So much easier than a postcode and far more pin-point accuracy too.
w3w, only if you know those 3 words. Even the Mercedes dealers website address only lists the postcode.