Mercedes has fully electrified its seven-seat family Tardis. The new EQB, matching the deceptively roomy GLB crossover, is a practical luxury getabout offering plenty of carrying capacity, up to 260 miles (419 km) of WLTP range, and lots of power options.
Big on the inside, relatively compact on the outside is a winning combination, and as well as the GLB manages to walk that line, the electric version should offer opportunities for even more space and leg room, thanks to the EQ platform’s compact motors and underfloor battery pack.
The EQB will launch with 66.5 kWh of “usable” battery capacity in Europe – enough for the vast majority of daily use cases but by no means a long-range tourer. Charging at up to 100 kW on a suitable DC fast charge station, you’ll get from 10 percent to 80 percent in “just over 30 minutes.” A longer-range version is in the works and will launch down the track.
Multiple power options will be available, and appear to be dependent on which market you’re buying in. The top dog upon launch would appear to be the China-specific version, offering 215 kW (288 horsepower). Euro models will become available later this year in FEW and AWD variants with “various power levels, some rated over 200 kW (268 hp).” Performance figures aren’t available as yet, and showrooms in the USA won’t see the EQB until 2022.
Cargo capacity will go as high as 1,710 liters for five-seat versions with the back seats folded down, or 1,620 liters for seven-seaters with all five back seats folded down, and this beast can support as many as five child seats should you be blessed with quintuplets or just not watch enough telly in the evenings.
The interior looks plenty robust, and gets you the lovely MBUX user interface with a wide color screen. In this case it’s also optimized for the EV experience, so the Eco Assist driving mode will make smart decisions based on navigation data and speed signs it sees coming up, and charging is factored into your trips where necessary.
Electrification might have provided the Germans the opportunity to come up with some more memorable naming systems, but instead we’ve now got an EQS, EQA, EQB and EQC – so you’ll still need to study your ABCs to figure the range out. More are surely on the way.
Mercedes-Benz launches the EQB, a compact, electric 7-seater [New Atlas]