Author: Doraemon

In today’s surge of electric vehicles, we often associate electrification with technology and intelligence, followed by a wave of new players in the automotive industry.

It is easy to overlook established luxury car brands, as their transition to electrification is hindered by the difficulty of turning around a large ship. Their many years of achievements and accumulation in traditional fuel fields seem to have left them lagging behind in the slow transition to electric vehicles.

However, there is an exception to be found among these luxury car brands and that is Mercedes-Benz. Mercedes-Benz has not only established its “pioneering luxury” Mercedes-EQ brand in the electric vehicle market, but also aims to “explore the infinite possibilities of the future world” and offer new luxury electric vehicle models for its customers.

Among them, the new EQA and EQB pure electric SUVs, as the new generation of Mercedes-EQ electric vehicle models, have “made in China, global quality” as their strategic positioning, meeting the higher demands and expectations of users for the electric vehicle trend in their respective fields.

Electric Mercedes-Benz: Luxury Remains

One of the main reasons why Mercedes-Benz is known as the benchmark for luxury in Doraemon’s eyes is its design style. While sharply angled, sporty styling has become the trend in the fuel-powered car market, Mercedes-Benz has shown us that luxury can still be achieved through elegant curves.

In the age of electrification, Mercedes-Benz’s “pioneering luxury” design concept, with the “timeless” front and rear continuous LED light strip, and the “starry-night” closed grille, not only offers a futuristic and distinguishing aesthetic, but also perfectly aligns with the current electric vehicle fashion trend. For the Mercedes-EQ series, luxury design is consistent throughout.

Specifically, the new EQA, as the choice of the avant-garde electric vehicle trend, presents a charming youthful and trendy atmosphere with its iconic avant-garde design.

As one of the few new luxury 7-seater pure electric vehicle models currently on the market, the new EQB’s 2829mm long wheelbase not only offers practical space in the vehicle, but also realizes the vision of a comfortable and luxurious electric vehicle lifestyle for many young parents seeking trendy and stylish electric mobility.

In terms of exterior design, the two new cars can be said to have their own unique styles. However, in terms of interior design, they bring us a unified design style, which is luxury. With the combination of a 10.25-inch high-definition touch dual-screen and EQ’s exclusive gold glitter air outlet, the interior design of the all-new EQA and EQB can be described as a benchmark of luxury.

Digitalization Is the “Root” of Electric Luxury

While vehicle design is undoubtedly crucial, if we only talk about design for a pure electric vehicle, it may be a bit “superficial”. In the view of Dolly, a pure electric vehicle is not only a transformation of the driving mode, but also a thorough revolution of digitalization and intelligence. Therefore, for the era of electrification, digital technology may be the “fundamental”.

It can be said that Mercedes-Benz has been deeply cultivating the field of digital intelligence for many years. In traditional fuel-powered vehicles, its MBUX system can be said to be world-renowned. And in pure electric vehicle models, Mercedes-Benz has also spared no effort. Its MBUX intelligent human-machine interaction system has added EQ exclusive functions such as optimized navigation.

The most noteworthy feature is undoubtedly the brand-new car-mounted navigation system jointly launched by Mercedes-Benz and Gaode. It can be said that it has ample room for use on the large central control screen of the all-new EQA and EQB. Why is this said? In the dual 10.25-inch high-definition touch screens of the two models, this car-mounted navigation system can achieve picture-in-picture navigation mode, with full position and road conditions overview, and can automatically switch to three-dimensional real landscape navigation when encountering complex road conditions, achieving immersive three-dimensional guidance, thus making driving efficient and convenient.

In addition, this system can also realize seamless linkage of multiple car-mounted functions, such as mind-reading voice assistant, offline navigation mode, head-up display, and so on. If there is an incoming call, the instrument panel can still continue navigation without interruption, and the navigation process will not affect the call. For electric vehicle models, this system can also optimize navigation routes based on the remaining mileage, making travel more reassuring.

In the view of Dolly, the main reason why Mercedes-Benz can be called the benchmark of luxury is because of its outstanding design and high-quality materials. And in today’s intelligent era, the definition of luxury should have more digitalization colors. Only when luxury comprehensively advances can it be called real luxury.

The post-90s generation believes that digital luxury is more about understanding what you want. By the time you want to do it, it has already been done for you. We see this on the two new models, such as its climate pre-control system, which can pre-set the temperature inside the car when you depart, coupled with its complete software and hardware technology, forming a relatively comprehensive driving assistance technology.Undoubtedly, in the electric era where numbers give way to “volume,” the luxury of Mercedes has stepped from physical luxury into digital luxury.

Electric Luxury Is an Overall Upgrade of Driving Experience

As mentioned by Dolly earlier during test driving the Mercedes S-Class, “not only sit in Mercedes, but also drive it” becomes a must nowadays. In the era of electrification, does the luxury gene of Mercedes still bring an upgrade of driving experience?

The answer is definitely positive. Both the new EQA and EQB are equipped with the advanced NCM811 lithium-ion battery with a capacity of 73.5 kWh. The CLTC driving range of EQA can reach up to 537 km, and that of EQB can reach 512 km under the same conditions.

As for power output, the new EQA is equipped with front and rear dual motors with a total power of up to 168 kW and a maximum torque of 390 Nm. The new EQB achieves 215 kW of total power and 520 Nm of maximum torque, with acceleration from 0 to 100 km/h in just 6.3 seconds, comparable to AMG GLB models.

Of course, it may seem a bit “outdated” to talk about acceleration results for electric products, and “fast” has been deeply ingrained in electric vehicles for long. So how has Mercedes worked on the driving experience of its electric products?

Just one “Hello, Mercedes” can wake up the voice system, which responds quickly with great handling and riding comfort, as well as highly accurate voice recognition.

We tried the feeling of acceleration from 0 to 100 km/h in 6.3 seconds, which is more than enough for this 7-seater all-electric SUV. Moreover, 6.3 seconds is actually faster than most vehicles on the road, and most importantly, much faster than the fuel-powered version. That’s enough.

During our test driving of the new EQB in Chengdu, four driving modes were offered, including energy-saving, comfort, sport, and personalization. Dolly thinks that the comfort mode of this car is sufficient for all scenarios in the suburbs of Chengdu. Whether overtaking in the city or on the ring expressway, this car will never let us down. A burst of acceleration, and we were fully satisfied all the way.In addition, the all-new EQA and EQB feature an intelligent all-wheel drive system that distributes torque between front and rear motors 100 times per second, as well as many comfortable and safe features such as a high-security electric vehicle body structure and a high-strength battery compartment that ensure that Mercedes-Benz electric vehicles still have a dynamic driving experience that meets the luxury standards of Mercedes-Benz. Combined with its more powerful power system and more intelligent technology configuration, as mentioned by Dolijun, Mercedes-Benz’s definition of electric luxury is a comprehensive upgrade of luxurious driving quality.

Regarding the price, people who have not driven this EQB may feel that the price is a bit high. But after experiencing the performance, configuration, comfort, and luxury of this car, it is still easy to accept. The acceleration experience that rivals AMG, the luxury sense of technology, comfort, and ride comfort make this car stand out among many luxury electric vehicles.

Electric Luxury Service is “Respect”

In fact, when Mercedes-Benz’s first domestically produced luxury pure electric vehicle, the EQC, was launched, Mercedes-Benz provided users with a thoughtful and comprehensive service system based on the specific usage scenarios in the Chinese market – the Mercedes-Benz five “star” charging service system.

The five “star” charging service includes Star Butler, Star Companion, Star Escort, Star Assistant, and Star Inn. Specifically, Star Butler is our home intelligent charging wall box, which provides free installation services for intelligent charging wall boxes that offer a variety of features such as remote control charging start and stop and charging status monitoring. The Star Butler’s service scope will gradually penetrate 200 domestic cities.

When going out, Mercedes-Benz has Star Companion public charging piles, which is an exclusive platform for Mercedes-Benz car owners that has covered more than 300 cities nationwide and built 340,000 charging piles. In addition, in case of emergency situations, the Star Escort road rescue charging service can play its role, which includes 24-hour trailer rescue services and emergency charging rescue services.

In addition, Star Assistant provides exclusive guest charging parking services for customers at seven major airports in five cities across the country; and Star Inn has established more than 380 exclusive charging stations in popular urban areas and authorized EQ dealerships.

Dolijun’s Comment (Summary):

Admittedly, in this era of great changes, “large ships are difficult to turn around” is indeed a difficult situation faced by many old luxury car brands, but since Mercedes-Benz launched its three domestically produced luxury pure electric vehicle models, we have seen that this brand has integrated its experience accumulated in the traditional fuel field into the pure electric field. Designing luxury, complying with the development of intelligence, and leading electric luxury with super-long battery life and after-sales service, they have brought us a comprehensive upgrade of luxury.

As the creator of the most luxurious automotive ideology, Mercedes-Benz is interpreting luxury electric vehicles on its own, telling the world what a new electric luxury is through thorough changes.

This article is a translation by ChatGPT of a Chinese report from 42HOW. If you have any questions about it, please email bd@42how.com.