Mercedes-Benz GLC with EQ Know-how prototype drive: Higher when chilled

Earlier than a brand new automobile involves market, it's subjected to many months, typically years, of rigorous testing world wide. Sweden typically hosts an enormous a part of that journey, its chilly northern expanses providing the proper mixture of frigid temperatures and frozen surfaces.

It's there that I personally bought to do some testing of an upcoming new EV from Mercedes-Benz. It's the GLC with EQ Know-how, an all-electric model of one of many firm's hottest SUVs. With new batteries, new motors and a higher-voltage charging system, it marks a big departure from, and improve over, the corporate's present EV choices just like the .

However might it’s higher to drive? That's the query that introduced me to Sweden. I'm usually fairly snug driving on the ice and snow. I've actually been doing it lengthy sufficient, residing within the northeast my total life and ice racing for the final 20 years. However, put me behind the wheel of a priceless, hand-built prototype and I'll normally take just a few further minutes earlier than I begin to actually push issues.

Not so once I bought behind the steering wheel of the electrical GLC SUV. Inside 30 seconds, I had my foot flat to the ground, and I, together with a wide-eyed improvement engineer, had been flying down an ice-covered path bisecting a birch tree stand.

Andre Tillmann on behalf of Mercedes-Benz AG

That's how good the brand new GLC's traction and stability management techniques are. The place most vehicles will merely minimize all the facility in a slippery scenario like that, particularly practical-minded ones like a typical crossover SUV, the GLC was much more giving. When the grip was low over sections of darkish, glassy ice, the system lowered the facility utility and stored me from making an enormous, costly dent in a snowbank.

When the grip was there, although, the GLC shortly ramped again as much as most acceleration, counting on the facility of its twin electrical motors and all-wheel drive to maintain us monitoring easily and cleanly between the bushes. These motors and the smarts that management them are all a part of Mercedes-Benz's new platform, MB.EA. These are everlasting magnet kind motors, with the entrance one that includes a bodily disconnect to cut back its drag when it's not wanted.

The automobile additionally contains a new warmth pump that’s capable of take in thermal power from the ambient air in addition to the automobile's numerous inside techniques. Mercedes engineers mentioned it’s going to heat the cabin twice as quick utilizing half the power as their present EVs. Certainly, the inside within the GLC was fairly cozy regardless of temperatures nicely beneath freezing.

Sadly, I can't touch upon the automobile's vary in these situations. That is only a pre-production prototype, in spite of everything. Nonetheless, I'm anticipating a considerable enchancment over the 307 miles the EQE SUV can handle on a cost. The batteries within the GLC depend on a revised chemistry, mentioned to cut back the reliance on whereas additionally rising power density. Which means extra miles per pound of battery.

Winter Testing in Sweden, Arjeplog 2025: The all-new Mercedes GLC with EQ Technology

One other factor serving to to increase vary is a revised regenerative braking system. The GLC will function a number of totally different charges of regen, together with a one-pedal mode that can convey the SUV to a whole cease. Whenever you do go for the brake pedal, although, you would possibly discover it feels just a little bizarre.

That's as a result of stepping on the pedal doesn't actually do something. Much like a , the resistance right here is simulated. You're not feeling a hydraulic system squeezing pistons, simply springs compressing.

It's a special sensation, however not a foul one. The concept is that the automobile will provide you with a gradual, constant really feel no matter what you're doing or the way you're driving. The automobile itself will decide how a lot of your required deceleration can come from the regenerative energy of the electrical motors. When it wants greater than they will present, it seamlessly calls within the bodily brakes for reinforcement.

In follow, it really works brilliantly. The automobile stops easily and cleanly, and there's not one of the occasional uneven braking that you simply get when stomping exhausting on the cease pedal in an EV. The dearth of pedal suggestions when ABS engages is a bit disappointing, however then I've heard that pulse causes some individuals to raise off the brake pedal, so maybe it's for the most effective.

When stomping on the opposite pedal, once more, the GLC accelerates strongly. It's fast sufficient to maintain performance-minded drivers entertained. Nonetheless, given the low-grip nature of the roads and trails I coated, I can't say simply how competent a handler it is going to be.

I can say that the elective air suspension did a elegant job over really horrible highway situations. Ruts, washboards, frost heaves, you identify it, the automobile fortunately soaked it up, even elevating the suspension by an inch when some deeper snow and ice necessitated just a little extra floor clearance. On smoother roads, the GLC was each bit the quiet limousine that you really want a luxurious EV to be. There was a little bit of highway noise from the aggressively treaded snow tires, however this factor ought to be a pleasant cruiser on regular tires.

The one drawback? We'll must be affected person. The GLC is about to make its formal debut in Germany in September, which suggests it probably gained't enter manufacturing till nicely into 2026. Mercedes-Benz hasn't set a worth for the electrical GLC but both. Given the state of the world proper now, it's anybody's guess what the inducement/tariff scenario will seem like for overseas EVs, even these constructed within the US like Mercedes-Benz's present .

If it's priced proper, although, and if it doesn't look too terrible as soon as these camouflage stickers and taped-on protrusions are eliminated, it ought to be a winner. I already can't wait for an additional go behind the wheel and one other likelihood to get much more snug.

This text initially appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/evs/mercedes-benz-glc-with-eq-technology-prototype-drive-better-when-chilled-230157718.html?src=rss

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