A Scary Halloween Tale

Everybody who either owns or has access to an all-electric car has experienced the heart-stopping feeling of range anxiety. It happened to me a couple of weeks ago while I was travelling south from Glasgow and had 35 miles predicted left in the battery. It was time to pull off at a service station for a rapid charge.

Then came an even bigger problem.

The chargers were out of action, and I was on a motorway where the next service station was 28 miles away. Gulp.

Time to crawl along with the trucks. Eco mode on. Heating off. No air con. Sat nav off. Just drive as smoothly as possible, trying to coast on the downhill sections and pray that the chargers would be working at the next service station.

I arrived with 9 miles left, and thankfully, they were working. Around 45 minutes later on a medium charger, I was back on the road.

A Potential Solution?

Needless to say, I wasn’t in the new all-electric Mercedes CLA, where the most important figure of all is the predicted range - 484 miles.

As well as this, an 800-volt rapid charge adds 200 miles in just 10 minutes or a 10-80% charge in 22 minutes. Impressive.

I was attending the launch of the latest CLA and had the car for a couple of hours, but the first impression was of a four-door saloon that offers a seriously competitive range in a smooth-riding, comfortable package. The standard car comes loaded with goodies, and Mercedes proudly claims that this is the cleverest car they’ve ever built.

Put it this way, the computer behind the dashboard is so busy that it needs to have cooling fluid pumped through it. It can even sense your mood and adjust the various driving dynamics accordingly. It can process up to 280-million functions per second…blimey.

Price

All this starts from £45,615 (Oct 25) for the CLA 250+ with EQ Technology AMG Line Premium Edition… yes, it’s a bit of a mouthful. Three higher trims are available, but they all have the same electric gubbins, although adding extra kit and bigger wheels puts a minor dent in the economy.

Performance figures

It’s reasonably quick off the mark, with a 0-60mph sprint taking 6.7 seconds. The 268bhp output goes via a two-speed gearbox which drives the rear wheels. There’s a beefier CLA 350 due next year, which ups the ante to around 350bhp and adds a second electric motor to the front to give you all-wheel drive. Both top out at 130mph.

If you prefer the CLA with a petrol engine, you’ll need to hang on for a few months, as there’s a 1.5-litre hybrid saloon on the way. There’ll also be a Shooting Brake. We may also get an all-electric CLA with a smaller battery, which will suit those of you who intend to drive mostly on urban roads. It’ll be cheaper too.

Modern day tech

Don’t be daunted by the level of technology and availability of AI…it all works really well and is designed to make your life simpler behind the wheel. It’ll probably take a while to get used to how everything works on a day-to-day basis, but our first impression was a positive one. The Mercedes Virtual Assistant is terrific. You can adjust a lot of the controls, set the sat nav, change the radio station, etc, by simply talking to the car via ‘Hey Mercedes.’ It’s one of the best around and uses Google and ChatGPT software if you need to find somewhere to eat or a particular charging network.

Driving experience

The ride is surprisingly smooth. You can adjust the amount of brake recuperation and fiddle with the driver modes but this is a car aimed fair and square for comfort, which is fine by me and, I suspect, by most buyers who’ll be interested in something like the Mercedes CLA. Okay, it’s not a point and squirt thrill-a-minute, but it’s no slouch and makes for fun on winding roads as well as effortless motorway overtaking. If you prefer a bit more weight in the steering, put the car into Sport mode. One pedal driving is also available.

Interior

Inside is a mix of simple trims and hi-tech wizardry. The driver gets a 10.25-inch display, and there’s a central 14-inch touchscreen which both looks good and works well, although I’d prefer some buttons or knobs to save having to scroll through various on-screen menus. You can also specify a screen in front of the passenger. The seats are supportive and comfy, and look nice too.

In terms of kit, you get everything you really need, like a sat nav, DAB radio, dual zone climate control, heated front seats, privacy glass, LED headlights and even a panoramic sunroof, which helps make the interior bright and cheery. In fact, I wouldn’t bother moving up the trim range as the entry-level version is more than adequate for most folk.

A bright electric future for Mercedes

When it comes to electric cars, this is one of the best around. The range and charging speeds are excellent, and it’s competitively priced. Throw in a well-equipped interior, tidy handling, and decent performance, and it’s easy to see that the electric future for Mercedes is bright.

words: Graham Courtney
pictures: Mercedes-Benz

Mercedes-Benz CLA Electric - The Antidote to Range Anxiety