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Mercedes-Benz enters EV arena with 2020 EQC

Range is estimated at 320 km, though. Nice try, Mercedes.

Autodeal on Sep 05, 2018

The electric vehicle (EV) trend is here to stay. With names like Jaguar, Tesla, Audi, BYD, Nissan, Porsche, and Volkswagen, among others, we could say that we’re in an era where carmakers are entering the arena of electrified vehicles one by one. It’s an inevitable direction for mobility, and Mercedes-Benz has just scratched the surface with the 2020 EQC.

Related: Nissan Leaf is world’s best-selling EV with 300,000 units sold

The 2020 EQC crossover is Mercedes-Benz’s first-ever EV, in which EQ stands for Electric Intelligence. It will start its production from 2019 onwards, and in China via the Beijing Benz Automotive Co. Ltd. (BBAC) plant, which thickens the plot about the German marque’s investment in the People’s Republic.

While the EQC is expected to have the same quality as what any Mercedes-Benz vehicle has, it kind of falls short on a feature that EV buyers mostly look at – the vehicle range. In its press release, Mercedes revealed that the 2020 EQC can reach up to 320 km in one single charge of its 80 kWh Lithium-Ion battery.

To put things in perspective, its supposed rival, the Jaguar i-PACE, has a vehicle range of up to 500 km, while another EV crossover, the Tesla Model X, can reach up to 475 km. Even the cheapest Tesla, the Model 3, has a bit longer range than the EQC at 354 km. This places the upcoming Mercedes EV at a major disadvantage when it comes to range comparison. As a saving grace to that, however, Mercedes mentioned that charging will be relatively quick for the EV, as it can go from 10% to 80% within 40 minutes of charging.

Nevertheless, you can expect nothing less from the Mercedes EQC when it comes to style, design, and functionality. As the company puts it, the EQC “is a pioneer for an avant-garde electric look while representing the design idiom of Progressive Luxury.“

For its powertrain, the Mercedes EQC will be powered by two asynchronous motors – one in the front axle and one for the rear. It will have an all-wheel-drive system and capable of producing 300 kW (402 hp) and 765 Nm of torque. With this figures, the EQC has a maximum speed of 180 km/h (electronically limited) and can reach 97 km/h from complete standstill in just 4.9 seconds.

The price of the 2020 Mercedes-Benz EQC is yet to be revealed, but the company mentioned that it will start selling the vehicle in the U.S. by 2020.