Everyone loves sleek, sporty-looking sedans and saloon cars, but in practice people are more likely to pick something more practical like an SUV. Mercedes has paid attention, and that’s where the Mercedes EQB comes in.
The EQB is essentially Mercedes’ answer to the Tesla Model Y. It’s an all-electric car that offers all the luxury and performance you’d expect from a Mercedes, but with all the storage space an SUV has to offer.
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With that in mind the EQB comes with a maximum trunk space of 60 cubic feet, though this seems to be what you get when the back seats have been folded down. Quite a bit less than the 76 cubic feet in the Tesla Model Y and the 87 cubic feet in the Model X. But it still has a pretty hefty amount of space.
And like any good SUV the EQB also offers a seven seater option, in case the standard five seat iteration isn’t going to be suitable to get you and your family around. According to Mercedes, this extra row is suitable for people up to 1.65 meters (5 feet 4 inches) tall, and is suitable for car seats.
The EQB comes with a 66.5 kWh battery, which offers 260 miles of WLTP range. That number will take a small dip when this car is rated on the more-conservative EPA scale.
While it’s far from the best range on an SUV (the Model Y offers at least 303 miles per charge), Mercedes claims that a long-range version will be coming to the U.S. sometime next year. Likewise the launch model will be a dual-motor all-wheel drive, but a front-wheel drive variant will launch sometime in the future.
The EQB supports rapid charging up to 100kW speeds, which promises to recoup 140 miles of range after 15 minutes of charging. Apparently a full recharge takes just 32 minutes, while an 11 kW home charger would fully recharge the car in just under six hours.
We don’t have any top speed or 0-60 mph figures just yet, but the EQB 350 will offer 288 horsepower and 384 lb-ft of torque. The EQB 300 will have a slightly less-impressive 221 horsepower and 256 lb-ft of torque to play with. Both should be able to get you to 60 miles per hour pretty quickly, in other words.
On the inside the EQB looks to be as high-tech as you’d expect from a modern electric car. There’s a 10.3-inch display that functions as a digital instrument cluster and infotainment display, augmented reality directions, and a system that can optimize your route for range and recharging. There’s no shortage of actual buttons either, something I’m very happy to see; touch controls can get very fiddly when driving on twisty roads.
Pricing details for the EQB haven’t been announced yet. And while the car is set to hit Europe and China before the end of this year, the U.S. won’t get a look until early 2022.
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