Test: Mercedes E-Class E300th Rechargeable Hybrid



[ad_1]

If you live with a gigantic drawback, this rechargeable hybrid is almost perfect.

Good

  • Electric range good enough to allow you to operate with electricity on a daily basis
  • Diesel engine provides low fuel consumption on long journeys
  • Electric and diesel engines work well together
  • Surprisingly a lot of effort
  • Lots of space at the back
  • One of the most attractive interiors of the market
  • Great comfort
  • Relatively inexpensively
  • Long distance without reach or charge

The bad

  • Extras are not cheap
  • Do not enjoy the benefits of an electric car even if you can use electricity on a daily basis

This is cruel

  • The trunk can be a "breaker"
facts


Mercedes E Class must be one of the most successful family cars ever built. Lots of space, a lot of comfort, a fantastic interior, great engines – and adaptable to the extreme. In AMG versions, the pleasure of driving in buckets and loads is a pleasure. In the All Terrain Edition, it's better than an SUV.




Read also

But when it appeared as a rechargeable hybrid a few years ago, everything was not as it should be. The clean electric stove was weak, the battery consumed a lot of storage space in the luggage. We could not get it as a break. And when the battery was empty, the fuel was turned off at a speed that completely eliminated any environmental problem of the vehicle.




Read also

When the new EU emissions control regime was put in place, Mercedes decided to remove the entire car.

Decided to think completely new

Mercedes decided to think again and unveiled a suite that is, to put it mildly, very exciting:

The size of the battery is almost doubled to 13.5 kWh, giving the car a range of over 5 mils after the old test procedure, and 45 to 47 km after the new WLTP standard. depending on the type of wheel.




This means that the car should actually be able to get rid of almost everything that happens on a daily basis in pure electric propulsion.

But that did not stop there: Mercedes also wanted a car capable of driving over long distances and now offers it in a version with a 2-liter diesel engine. This may seem very unecological, but that's because diesel has a bad reputation a little unmerited:



The E300de means something like "a diesel-electric class E with a performance equivalent to a 3-liter engine".

The reason why Norwegian politicians a few years ago encouraged people to buy diesel cars was because they used less fuel – and therefore emitted less greenhouse gases. Diesel engines also have a better weight than petrol cars and are therefore ideal for heavy hybrid vehicles.

The misery of diesel comes from NOx emissions in cities. But there are now many things that suggest that new diesel cars hardly emit NOx emissions in practice. In addition, this car can be powered mainly with electricity normally.




Read also




So, here you have a car that can be used as an electric car in everyday life, but that also means you come away without the need for a disproportionate battery. It should not be forgotten that battery production is a bit of a mess, especially because it finances child labor similar to the Congo slave to extract cobalt.

On top of that, the plug-in hybrid is now available in break, and so one might think that it's almost the perfect compromise.




Works wonders

When we got the test car back, the car battery was almost fully charged – and we put it in pure electric mode.

The first day, we managed to travel only 21 kilometers to Oslo, mainly on the highway. The car then said that she was consuming 19.8 kWh / 100 km and that she still had 21 kilometers of clean autonomy.

The next day we continued the tests and after a mixed drive – including on several highways – the clean electric stove was emptied after a total of 43 kilometers. There are two kilometers less than the indicated distance, on which we have affixed an approved stamp, as we both drove on the highway and left the car standing all night.

NB! The battery is still not completely empty when the clean electric stove is exhausted, but the car goes into hybrid mode.



We tested 43 days after traveling 43 kilometers. It's not far from the official 45-kilometer figure for the wheels of our test car.

But what excited us was what would happen after that: would fuel consumption be acceptable even after battery depletion?

The phase after nearly 300 km of driving: Average fuel consumption has stabilized at 0.46 liters per mile. Depending on the car's systems, it consumes almost half of its time with electricity, as it is relatively good for regeneration of energy.




Fast as little

Driving the new diesel hybrid is also a surprisingly positive experience: the 194 horsepower diesel engine works very well with the 122 horsepower electric motor, both of which drive the rear wheels.

The 0-100 value is printed on paper in 5.9 seconds and the electric motor provides an instant response when you step on the accelerator pedal, which you are not particularly used to on a car diesel. The car is therefore perceived as incredibly agile.




Mercedes provides a combined total power of 306 horsepower and a torque of 700 (!) Nm – so it should be virtually missed. It's simply a plug-in hybrid that's fun to drive.

The car is gently configured, as should be a good Mercedes, but it is also part of the game in the turns.




Luggage shock

Everything was in order so that it was one of the most obvious recommendations we have ever given.

But then we opened the lid of the luggage compartment, where we met the luggage pitcher. We immediately had links to how Ford ruined everything when, as the first automaker (perhaps) failed with an electric car in Norway with Focus. As some may remember, Ford used almost the entire boot to house the battery pack.



The box located at the back of the trunk is the battery pack needed to make the car electric every day.



This is the boot of a regular e-class.

Mercedes obviously did not manufacture the E-Class from scratch, considering that it should be a hybrid electric or rechargeable. Thus, they had to empty a large battery box in the trunk. And so it has become a much bigger battery than before.



You see here engraved in the trunk of the predecessor E350e.

We now know that Mercedes thinks it's a good idea for its plug-in hybrids, but no previous problem has been as extreme as this car.

Not only does it take up a lot of luggage, but it also prevents you from putting the rear seats flat.

In pure figures, the size of the boot is reduced from 640 to 440 liters compared to a standard motorized E-Class. About 100 of these liters come from the box that you see in the trunk, while the rest comes from the fact that much of the room under the "floor" in the trunk has also disappeared.



The back seat, on the other hand, has nothing negative to say.

In fact, pretty much a thing

If the new Mercedes plug-in hybrid is for you, it's one thing: can you live with the trunk?

There is still plenty of room to carry bags and trays, but the trunk is less usable than what is normally expected from a station wagon. It's simply the price to pay for the bag and the bag.

The advantage with the car, however, seems important. If you disregard the fact that it's not a clean electric car – with all the benefits that come with it – it's a complete package that's extremely attractive to a family of people. four people who will occasionally visit the cabin.

We do not roll the dice in our tests, but if we look away from the trunk, we get a 6-point ready for reading.




Read also

[ad_2]
Source link