New Mercedes C-Class Electric is more powerful than the BMW i3, and more expensive
Mercedes electric executive saloon might have less range than the new BMW i3, but it has more power
The all-new Mercedes C-Class Electric is now available to order, with prices starting from £57,995 – just a few hundred pounds more than the first edition of its chief rival, the highly-anticipated new BMW i3.
There are five trim levels to choose from – Sport, AMG Line, AMG Line Premium, AMG Line Premium Plus and Premier Edition – with standard kit on the exec EV including 19-inch wheels, a panoramic roof, screens covering the entire dashboard, wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, heated front seats, ambient lighting and a litany of driver-assistance tech.
Higher-spec models cram in even more luxuries, such as a 39.1-inch Hyperscreen spanning the dash, a sportier AMG bodykit, an illuminated grille, Burmester 4D surround sound system, heated rear seats and flush-fitting door handles.
For now, every C-Class Electric features the same ‘400 4Matic’ powertrain that uses a 94.5kWh battery to provide up to 452 miles of range and feed a pair of electric motors. It’s the same set-up found in the Mercedes GLC Electric and delivers 482bhp, 800Nm of torque plus all-wheel drive, with the 0-62mph sprint being covered in just four seconds.
What range does the Mercedes C-Class Electric have?
The equivalent BMW i3 50 xDrive features a larger, 112kWh battery that officially offers up to 563 miles of range, trouncing the Mercedes, although its dual-motor system delivers ‘just’ 462bhp and a 0-62mph time of 4.7 seconds.
Meanwhile, the Tesla Model 3 Long Range All-Wheel Drive has what now seems like a puny 410-mile range and 346bhp, but that’s still enough for 0-60mph in 4.2 seconds. Mercedes has said there will be a less-powerful single-motor version of the C-Class Electric, which will be good for closer to 500 miles on a charge. “Various battery variants” will arrive in time, we’ve been told, which should mean a smaller-battery model with less range offered at a lower price point.
That’s handy because BMW has already announced regular versions of its electric 3 Series will launch in the autumn and drop the car’s starting price to £53,005.
But the smaller, sleeker and still cutting-edge Mercedes CLA Electric, which offers up to 483 miles of range, is available through the Auto Express Buy A Car from £37,415.
What other technology does it feature?
The C-Class Electric has a 330kW maximum charge speed, thanks to its 800V architecture. Find a suitably fast charger, and a 10 to 80 per cent top-up is done in just 22 minutes.
Unlike early versions of the CLA, which sits on another new Mercedes platform called ‘MMA’, the C-Class Electric comes with a DC converter so it can charge at 400V fast-charging stations.
As with the GLC Electric, the C-Class gets a new two-speed automatic transmission, with the first gear providing acceleration up to around motorway speeds and the second gear designed for power delivery at high speeds, while also focusing on efficiency. We’ve tried this in the GLC and found the changeover to be imperceptible and performance in the larger, heavier SUV was impressive.
As standard, the C-Class Electric gets ‘comfort suspension’, with a four-link front axle and a multi-link rear set-up. The optional ‘Agility and Comfort package’ adds Mercedes’ Airmatic air-suspension system with predictive damping based on the road surface ahead, plus rear-wheel steer.
The latter system isn’t as aggressive as the 10-degree movement offered in the EQS, but the 4.5 degrees of rear angle gives the C-Class’s an 11.2-metre turning circle. At higher speeds the rear wheels turn in the same direction as the fronts by up to 2.5 degrees to enhance stability.
What does the Mercedes C-Class Electric look like?
Mercedes has previously told us that the new look and rather controversial front-end design first found on the GLC Electric is here to stay, and true to its word, the German firm has given the C-Class Electric a similar face to its SUV cousin.
As with the GLC, there are lots of little lights within that distinctive grille (1,050 this time) and the headlights have a three-pointed star signature embedded within. Other design elements shared with the GLC include the rear lights, and while they’re new clusters, the black background and four round lights are undeniably similar.
The overall proportions give off a “coupé-like silhouette, sculpted with taut surfaces and muscular wheelarches”, according to Bastian Baudy, Mercedes’ chief design officer. In the metal there’s more than a whiff of the EQE, although the elongated side window does help to hide some of the vertical mass.
The wheelbase is almost three metres long (which explains the need for rear-wheel steering), which is 97mm longer than that of the combustion-engined C-Class. The benefit of this is more room inside, both for front and rear passengers. It’s also as tall as an S-Class and comes with a standard-fit panoramic glass roof, so headroom is improved over the current C-Class, despite the need for a big battery underneath. The boot capacity is 470 litres (15 litres more than the petrol C-Class) and you also get a 101-litre space under the bonnet, as with the GLC.
What’s the interior like?
In the C-Class Electric the first thing you notice inside is the vast triple-screen that’s taken from the new GLC Electric. Mercedes’ ‘Hyperscreen’ is an optional extra; as standard you get the ‘Superscreen’, which doesn’t have the third passenger-side display.
As with the GLC, there are several new features, including video capability for the passenger-side screen, which can be displayed while driving, although it turns off if the driver looks at it for too long. There’s also a huge amount of customisation to get comfortable, too, either through the ambient lighting, optional Burmester sound system or from the all-new seats, which have electrically adjustable lumbar support, massaging functions, seat ventilation and even 4D sound.
The expansive glass roof has 162 stars, while there’s something called ‘Sky Control’ that allows segments of the roof to be made opaque. We’ve already tried this in the GLC and came away pretty impressed.
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