New Mercedes CLA will do 800 miles with just 20 minutes of charging

The new electric Mercedes CLA can apparently do 1,270km (789 miles) with just two 10-minute charging stops, according to the engineers in charge of the project. The feat is made possible by the car’s chunky 85kWh battery, plus the new MMA platform’s cutting-edge 800v electrical architecture and ultra-rapid charge speeds; Mercedes claims the car can “add 300km (186 miles) in 10 minutes”.

Mercedes recently revealed that the CLA, under test conditions, had managed a total of 2,309 miles in 24 hours at the Nardo Technical Centre in southern Italy – with the car travelling at an average speed of 154.9km/h (more than 96mph). Timo Stegmaier, senior manager for the CLA’s electric drive system, told us the car had been charged “40 times, and each charging break was 10 minutes”.

Of course, with such a high average speed during the 24-hour period, the car wouldn’t have been getting anywhere close to its certified 466-mile WLTP range. As such, the amount of miles it was able to add in 10 minutes would’ve been far shy of the quoted 186 miles in normal conditions.

Stegmaier wouldn’t reveal the car’s charging curve or any targeted peak charge speed,but said for the record run the engineers “used a normal charging station” and “regularly saw 320kW” – matching the kind of numbers promised by the far pricier Porsche Taycan.

“Obviously the peak of 320[kW] won’t be maintained,” he said. “We cannot talk about how long you will have or what the curve looks like, but it’s a very important and interesting KPI for the customer.”

The new CLA is set to be revealed in full in the spring, before arriving in the UK later in the year. Mercedes recently announced that the multi-fuel MMA platform would see the CLA also offered with a hybrid powertrain; this model will be brought to market in 2026.

The four-door will be followed by a new Mercedes CLA Shooting Brake, as well as replacements for the GLA and GLB – plus their electric EQA and EQB equivalents. 

However, as we reported earlier this year, future Mercedes EVs won’t use the maker’s EQ branding – at least not in the conventional sense. We’re therefore more likely to see the next iteration of electric cars badged ‘GLA with EQ Technology’, for example – consigning the EQA (and EQB) to the history books after just one generation.

Click here for our list of the electric cars with the longest range...