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, generally years, of rigorous testing all over the world. Sweden usually hosts an enormous a part of that journey, its chilly northern expanses providing the right mixture of frigid temperatures and frozen surfaces.

It's there that I actually 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 or not it’s higher to drive? That's the query that introduced me to Sweden. I'm usually fairly comfy driving on the ice and snow. I've actually been doing it lengthy sufficient, residing within the northeast my complete life and ice racing for the final 20 years. However, put me behind the wheel of a priceless, hand-built prototype and I'll often take just a few additional 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 automobiles will merely lower all the ability 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 decreased the ability software and stored me from making an enormous, costly dent in a snowbank.

When the grip was there, although, the GLC rapidly ramped again as much as most acceleration, counting on the ability of its twin electrical motors and all-wheel drive to maintain us monitoring easily and cleanly between the timber. 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 scale back its drag when it's not wanted.

The automobile additionally contains a new warmth pump that’s in a position to take up thermal power from the ambient air in addition to the automobile's numerous inside techniques. Mercedes engineers stated it is 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 under freezing.

Sadly, I can't touch upon the automobile's vary in these circumstances. 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, stated to scale 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 characteristic a number of totally different charges of regen, together with a one-pedal mode that may carry the SUV to an entire cease. Whenever you do go for the brake pedal, although, you would possibly discover it feels slightly bizarre.

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

It's a unique sensation, however not a nasty one. The concept is that the automobile gives you a gentle, 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’ll 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 laborious 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 carry 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 lined, I can't say simply how competent a handler will probably be.

I can say that the non-compulsory air suspension did a elegant job over really horrible highway circumstances. 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 slightly 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 needs to be a pleasant cruiser on regular tires.

The one drawback? We'll need to be affected person. The GLC is about to make its formal debut in Germany in September, which implies it possible received'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 motivation/tariff scenario will appear 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 needs to be a winner. I already can't wait for an additional go behind the wheel and one other likelihood to get much more comfy.

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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