The market for electric cars has grown a lot in recent years, and most large manufacturers also come with electric variants for their cars. The Mercedes EQA is a small SUV for city or mountain travel with the whole family that complements the EQ range from Mercedes. In the next few minutes I will review my experience with the car from the perspective of the technology enthusiast.
Mercedes-Benz EQA design
I'll tell you right away that I only know how to design cars in a subjective way. I can tell when a phone is ugly or not, but harder on cars. The front grille is what makes the difference between Mercedes and traditional electric models. The radiator grille is integrated in a black panel with a big centered star, and in the back there are light strips all over the width of the trunk.
Is it the most beautiful car I've ever seen? Of course not, but it's not a car that would have bothered me when I saw it. After all, if you're used to other Mercedes models, they'll look a lot alike.
The part I really like about Mercedes-Benz is the interior, and here I would insist on the design, that I know a little better. The steering wheel of the tested car was covered in leather and you have aluminum elements where you have the controls for the entertainment system, but also for the front indicators, all being digital.
Over 70% of Romanian companies have adopted hybrid work after 2 years of ...The specific element of Mercedes is the touch screen that starts in front of the driver to the center, where you also have the Mercedes MBUX system, which we will talk about later. The indicators are digital and you can change both their colors and functions, if you want to have a digital speedometer and have information in front of you about the consumption or the route you are following.
The air conditioning slots are very sexy and I really like them, although if you're like me and have a phone holder or air freshener mounted there, forget about them. I searched all over the internet and there is no suitable phone holder for this system from Mercedes. But! There is a great gift. Basically, you don't need anything for your phone. You can have Apple CarPlay and Android Auto to help you stop using your phone. For the air freshener part, I really have nothing to tell you. I'm still looking.
Otherwise, the interior has ambient lights that give a very pleasant feeling at night and can be seen discreetly during the day, they are also on the pedals, on the edges of the doors and on the dashboard, and the colors can change. When it comes to chairs, I wasn't necessarily a fan of the skin on this EQA because it was very ... sticky. He looked good, very masculine, with interesting color elements, but actually if you want to get a little off the road you can't really stick to your jeans. I know, a very random problem.
Overall, it's not the most beautiful car on the outside, but the inside is aggressive, futuristic, and the digital console that goes from the driver to the center is spectacular, and future generations will want even more interesting.
Seedblink launches new features and a pilot for the secondary marketTechnical performance
EQA 250 is an electric vehicle that promises a current consumption of 19.1 - 17.7 kWh / 100 kilometers. The total range promised in ideal conditions is 419 kilometers, and the maximum speed is 160 kilometers per hour, while the acceleration from 0 to 100 km / h is 8.9 seconds. The lithium-ion battery with which the car is equipped has an energy content of 66.5 kWh and is located under the body. At AC stations, the car can be charged to 11 kW, and at stations that have direct current, the speed goes up to 100 kW.
The car has a total mass of 2.4 tons. In terms of technical performance, I personally looked at a few aspects - how it feels in the city, how fast it is, what is the ideal speed for long-distance consumption and what would be the autonomy for normal people's roads. So I drove it urban, out of town and on the highway.
I already had experience with an electric VAN from Mercedes and other electric cars, so I knew what to expect. The car is fast in the city and the energy transfer helps it to have a very good start, but controlled.
In the city, with my driving style which is a mix of relatively sporty driving and pickup trucks that takes the car out of gear and lets it run until the traffic light, the car had an average consumption of about 21-23 kwH / 100 Kilometres. Once I took it on the long road, on the narrower roads and where I drove legally in the locality and with 90-100 kilometers per hour outside the locality, because there were many trucks that could not be overtaken, the consumption decreased to 18 -19 kwH / 100 kilometers. Then I crossed the highway, where the ideal consumption is around 110 km / h, but if you don't even want to confuse the traffic, 120 km / h would be perfect. I also wanted to see what the maximum speed consumption is, and it reaches about 27-28 kwH / 100 kilometers, because the maximum speed is limited.
So, in total, on an ordinary road in Romania, which combines European, national roads and a few highways, you will reach a 22-23 kWh if you maintain a suitable speed so as not to confuse traffic, and the autonomy is around 300 Kilometres. Which allows you to reach the sea and have autonomy depending on how fast you go. But once you get there you have to load the car. It's not a fulminant autonomy, because you make a trip from Bucharest to Timișoara with a mandatory load.
Otherwise, on the long road the car is quiet, I liked this aspect a lot, you can get along in the car without any problems, the sound insulation being very good. If you need to overtake, the car is energetic, accelerates quickly and even with its size is agile. Mercedes EQA also has ECO Assist, a system in which the car consumes less energy, and autonomy increases after the system analyzes the speeds of the surrounding cars, speed limits and gives the driver visual cues to adapt your driving style.
For me, it's a very good city car for a family that has to take a child to school, if they have a small child or if they want to go out of town to the mountains or on a bike tour and you need to put things in luggages. Obviously, as the main family car, it can be quite difficult, but like all electric cars today, because you have to adapt your road quite a lot.
The car as a gadget
We also talked about the Mercedes systems inside the cars, and the essence is MBUX and Mercedes Me. Mercedes Me is an application that allows you to connect to the car and control it remotely. You can check that the doors and windows are closed, send a travel destination to the navigation system so that everything is ready and you can also see the technical data.
Inside I mentioned the screens that take the place of indicators. These two areas are screens. The information is very visible and you can change the controls in front of you.
MBUX allows you to connect your phone and you can have various data about the machine, from its control through voice commands. Even if that "Hey Mercedes" command is still not necessarily optimized in Romania, I used it for basic functions or ones that I didn't know how to access from the menu. For example, I didn't know how to mute the navigation system, so I was lucky and said "Hey Mercedes Navigation Sound Off", which worked. For such long-distance commands, simple commands, not necessarily calling someone, are useful. If you're trying to call someone on your phone book, you need to be careful. Depending on the name it will not recognize. If you have more English-language agenda entries, such as Mom, Dad, Girlfriend, Boyfriend, Husband, then it will work fine.
Otherwise, you can control the interior lights, the temperature of the seats, in some models you also have the Kinetic area, which offers you a kind of massage. Basically, the lumbar position changes a little so as not to stay fixed on the long road.
Because it is a gadget, it also has many artificial intelligence systems. Some more useful, some not. For example, Active Brake Assist, which brakes automatically if there is an obstacle in front of you or if someone puts a sudden brake, is extremely good. Active Lane Keeping Assist I'll tell you - it's a system I hate with all my heart. It's useful theoretically, because at night you might fall asleep behind the wheel if you're too tired (although it's better to turn right and go to bed a little), and the audible warning, vibration and braking are very useful then. But in normal life, that system that you can only deactivate every time you start the car is relatively dangerous. Because if I want to bypass a pit in Bucharest and step on the continuous line that the system recognizes, the car screams and brakes. I've been scared a few times of doing such simple maneuvers. Personally in the city I would deactivate the system and activate it only if I am tired or at night on the long road.
Price and availability
The car we tested has a list price of 58,832 euros (including VAT), but if you buy it through Rabla Plus you will receive a subsidy of 10,000 euros. The standard price for EQA is 41,319 euros, but in that version it lacks a few options, including the charging cable for Wallbox and public station, the Night package, the AMG line (sportier styling, galvanized paddles, leather-wrapped sports steering wheel and other ornaments thresholds), but also the Premium package containing heated seats, augmented reality MBUX for navigation and outdoor lighting close to the design of the logo.
When you buy EQA you receive an Engie charging station, if you live at home it will be very useful and 12 CASCO installments that you receive as a gift.
Conclusion
Who is this car for and what is it for? I would say that it is for those who want to make short trips in Romania, such as Bucharest - Constanța, Bucharest-Brașov, come on Bucharest-Sibiu. For those who appreciate a 30-minute road break for a charge. For those with families who are taking their child to school or want to have space for a child seat. For those who appreciate quiet cars and consume little, who do not want to spend a lot of money on gasoline or diesel and care about the environment.
It's a wide beach. I'd say it's not as spectacular a car as other electric cars, but I think we're entering the time when it's good for electric cars to be ... boring. And that's an attribute, not a criticism. Even if they are interesting gadgets, electric cars should be for everyone. EQA is a car with an average cost, because in the end you can buy it with a price between 35,000 euros and 45,000 euros, which can be a lot for some, but the remote assistance and control functions help you.
Are you a cool entrepreneur? Maybe it's not time for Tesla, because it's already become a cliché. You can be responsible and travel with your car for short distances while loading it at home.
Personally, I wouldn't go to electric cars yet. These are interesting experiences, but I'm a fan of long-distance car travel, not necessarily in the city. I prefer to travel in the city by any other alternative transport than by car, but I like to travel a long way by car, and the idea of changing my consumption behavior so much still doesn't make me smile. I would need ... another 100 kilometers of battery life and about ... 15 minutes less for charging, plus a more developed infrastructure so you don't have to worry about charging places in some places.