EVs are becoming hot property at the moment with the surging demand. Many new EV order holders are having to anxiously wait months on end and with limited options are having to make compromises.
One of those compromises is going for a 5-seater EV option when their family needs a seven-seats. There just haven’t been any seven-seater EV SUVs in the Australian market since Tesla stopped delivering its premium Model X.
However, that’s set to change with Mercedes Benz bringing in their newly launched EQB with a seven-seater option.
I took one for a test drive around regional Victoria last week to find out what it’s like to drive. Today I will share what I think of this new EV and where it fits in the EV ladder for those looking to upgrade to an electric seven-seater SUV.
A comfortable ride with a premium feel
When the pricing of the new Mercedes-Benz EQB was announced a couple of months ago, I was curious to see that the base model came well under $89,000 and the specs in Bridie’s article looked quite good. I was curious to find out if the comfort and premium feel of the car was traded off to bring it in at that price.
It isn’t the case.
Getting into the EQB is quite easy and doesn’t feel like a large SUV. At a height of 1,701 mm, it has plenty of headroom along with good space for legroom in the front seats.
Sitting in this SUV for a drive around rainy regional Victoria didn’t take too long to get used to. The seats in this EV felt like they were made for comfort rather than sportiness.
With the ride set in sport mode, the EQB felt sharper around corners and more composed given the conditions.
I wanted it to be comfortable yet responsive at the same time on wet Victorian roads around the hills near Ballarat.
Even on gravel roads, the car didn’t break traction when driven to conditions and felt so much more composed.
Power delivery visualised
The main screen with navigation and other controls had a live three-dimensional view of what the power train was doing at all times. It was particularly nice to see on these gravel stretches to see where the power was being delivered.
This also got me thinking about how much more control the car has over traction and controlling the wheels that are slipping compared to an ICE car. Seeing the motors do their work and how simple the system is compared to ICE counterparts made me feel safer in an EV that also happens to be so much quieter.
The interior is quite nice and the ambient lighting adds a cool touch to the interior. Kids would love all the lights changing colours in this EV.
The infotainment system supported Apple Carplay and Android Auto while the car itself has a navigation system that was also quite easy to use for someone getting in the car for the first time.
Boot space with the 7-seat option
Space-wise, the second row had enough space to seat two adults or three kids comfortably. Even with $2,900 seven-seat option, the boot was still big enough for a few bags.
Reasonable range with a catch
The EQB offers a reasonable WLTP range of 370 km. This is not bad for city driving or in some regional parts of the country where there is good charging infrastructure.
Most customers of the new Mercedes Benz EQB would be doing most of their driving in the cities and doing the bulk of the charging at home. On long road trips, a bit of planning would be required.
Charging speeds for DC charging are also capped at 100 kW and can get to 80% in around 32 minutes. This would still be sufficient for road trips at 350 kW chargers.
Seven-seat buyers finally have an option
With many EV buyers having to make some compromise to get behind the wheel of an EV, those looking into a seven-seater finally have an option.
In absence of market leader Tesla offering a seven-seater Model Y (Tesla offers this option in the US for $US3,000,) buyers can now get behind the wheel of a family EV SUV in the form of the EQB.
The Mercedes-Benz EQB felt comfortable riding on regional Victorian roads and being an EV would do quite well in the city streets too in stop-and-go traffic. Overall, this could be Mercedes-Benz’s best-selling EV in 2023.
Riz is the founder of carloop based in Melbourne, specialising in Australian EV data, insight reports and trends. He is a mechanical engineer who spent the first 7 years of his career building transport infrastructure before starting carloop. He has a passion for cars, particularly EVs and wants to help reduce transport emissions in Australia. He currently drives a red Tesla Model 3.