PREVIEWED: Mercedes-Benz EQC – Tomorrow, Today

It can be difficult to accept for many, like yours truly, that the end is nigh for the internal combustion engine.

While we rally around carmakers like Mazda who appear to have bought us some time with their revolutionary SkyActiv-X compression-ignition petrol mills, the reality is that the motoring industry is moving sharply towards zero-emissions electric motoring, and there’s precious little that can be done about it. Volkswagen’s committed an obscene amount of money to the cause, as has BMW, the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance… and Daimler.

Daimler is the focus of this article because, just this week, I was given the very special opportunity to drive the Mercedes-Benz EQC, the first fully-electric series-production car from the hallowed marque, which I was told many times was the product of 130 years of automotive engineering excellence. Just one EQC was brought to Malaysian shores, in left-hand drive and fresh off a plane where it was collected in Norway after having graced the Oslo motor show. 

In fact I very nearly didn’t drive it, as it had back-to-back engagements with photographers and KL’s movers and shakers, who had all descended upon the old air force base in Sg. Besi to take a look at the future of motoring, today.

But drive it I did, after some serious pleading with PR & communications staff from Mercedes-Benz Malaysia, who had thought it best to retire the electric vehicle after it’d been out on the runway in about half a dozen other hands. But return it did, with the key promptly delivered to me, with the warning to brace myself – it’s seriously fast.

I actually don’t understand the fascination with electric performance. It’s a well-known fact that an electric motor can go from 0% output to 100% output in a blink, as that is the nature of electricity. But every carmaker with a zero-emissions vehicle always wants to talk about the stupid torque figures and the manner with which it’s delivered, as did Mercedes-Benz, who informed me that the EQC can hit 100km/h in 5.1-seconds. ‘Cool,’ was about all I could muster as a response.

As I lined the EQC up on the intricately-laid track on the runway, I threw logic to the wind, floored the brakes with my left foot and the accelerator with my right, which hilariously activated ‘Launch Mode’ automatically. Taking that as a sign, I lifted my left foot and proceeded to send it down the straight. It hit 100km/h in about 5-seconds, but during which I left most of my internal organs in the rear seat – your mind can tell you about that instant torque hit but when you get hit, boy is it a rush.

Following that straight was a chicane, so it was hard on the brakes (which took the opportunity to top up the batteries, those sneaky buggers) and then a sharp right-left-right onto a second straight. Here the inevitable weight of the EQC became apparent, sloshing from side to side like an 60s Rover. The sensation of over 2,000kg moving from left wheels to right sent logic screaming back into my head, and so I dialled it down, and went for another round.

This time driving sensibly, I took the course gently. Calculated inputs (though not light) saw the EQC glide effortlessly down the straight, kept the nose level under braking, and ushered dignified progress through the corners. This, I felt, was the way the EQC was designed to be driven. We don’t find ourselves on closed runways daily; No, we’re usually stuck in jams on Jalan Kuching, or creeping to a halt at a traffic light on Jalan Maarof. We’re usually creeping through Telawi looking for parking, or indeed in Publika for the entrance to the not-premier parking that us heathens can afford.

And for that purpose, the EQC is perfect. It’s eerily quiet, its power very easy to modulate, its controls light, and its aesthetic approach very familiar. It’s built off the GLC-Class SUV after all and so a lot of the controls are taken from that. Even the overall appearance outside is reminiscent of the GLC, with only the reworked fascia and rump giving it away. Down the sides it’s a dead-ringer for the GLC which, to my mind, makes sense as EVs try and tempt the buyers of today’s internal-combustion cars to give it up, and #SwitchToEQ, as it were.

With a launch date set to be sometime in the second-half of next year (presumably after Mercedes-Benz screws down a comprehensive assault on Malaysia’s pathetic EV infrastructure), the EQC will most likely arrive in showrooms touting an RM600k price tag. It’s not the EV for all, but it was never intended to be. The EQC is Malaysia’s first premium EV after all and frankly, it’s premium indeed.

So if you’re well-heeled enough to pay the premium, do it. Make that switch, enjoy your 460km range and 40-minute DC charge time, and show the whole world that while they look at the horizon and wonder when it’ll swallow their petrol-guzzling machines, you’re already enjoying tomorrow.

Actually, scratch that. EVs aren’t the cars of tomorrow. They’re here, now. And we need to climb aboard, or risk getting left behind.