The Mercedes B Class 250e is a rare creature. If you ask 100 current EV owners what they know about the 250e the majority will in all likelihood explain that Mercedes do not make an electric vehicle yet, they have a number of new cars in development for 2019-2020. These people are technically correct, Mercedes Benz do not currently in 2019 have an electric vehicle in the market... but they did have up until 2018... the B250e
The B250e is a strange car, as it is a Mercedes by design and build, however, under the skin and in its battery/motor set up it is pure Tesla. The reason for this is simple, up until the B250e coming to market Daimler Benz owned a stake in Tesla. This link led to collaboration, the fledgling US electric car maker needed to get cars built to a schedule, and thanks to the joint venture many Daimler Benz parts appeared in the early Tesla Model S. These include, gear selector, wiper/lights stalks and the window control buttons to name but a few.
In return Daimler Benz worked with Tesla on the production of its first US car, the C250e - this led to the 28KWh battery pack and traction motor in the 250e coming from Tesla.
What was produced is a stunning car, by far the best of the B Class range in my opinion, including any or all AMG versions of the B Class. The car exudes style and luxury, as you would expect in a premium vehicle which retailed for between £30,000 to £35000 before any Government grants.
The car has 3 drive modes and paddle shift controlled 'regen braking', it is a heavy car and as a result would not be expected to have super long range. In fact I would say that 3.5 to 3.9 miles per kw which you can expect in early spring in the UK requires extreme 'eco driving' and would give a nominal range of 98-100 miles. This range estimate appears close to correct from my recent experience, admittedly not much yet.
(Range achieved by eco-driving on 21 March)
The Achilles heel of the 250e is its complete lack of CHademo rapid charging capacity. The onboard 11kwh charger unit restricts owners to long, very long waits on the fastest destination charging posts. I can envisage being extremely unpopular if I hook up to a 50kwh Ecotricity charger for an hour in order to gain 40ish miles of range!
Owners of the 250e love the car and willingly contribute many Youtube videos of the car being enjoyed, despite its poor charging. It is pure luxury in the cabin, and a remarkably spacious 5 seater.
The upside to the 250e's lack of rapid charging added to the fact that Mercedes Benz have hidden some of the car's battery capacity is that the batteries on the 250e should be much less prone to degradation in the long term.....we will see. MB were fairly confident of the batteries remaining healthy, because they have included an 8 year or 100,000 mile battery and drivetrain warranty with the 250e.
To cut to the chase, why have I just swapped a 2011 Mitsubishi iMiEV for a 2016 B250e after just 6 months of ownership?
One big reason for me was the staggering degree of battery degradation in the Mitsubishi, and despite my long term love for the little car, for me it was proving ever more difficult to keep 'fully charged' I was having to be really creative in adding time to my work day in order to accommodate 2-3 hours of charging time. Hence my messages to Go Green Autos and our agreement for them to buy back the car giving me a workable deposit for my new love - the Mercedes Benz B Class 250e Electric Art Premium.
My first impressions were difficult as we did not get off to a good start due to a poor collection experience which left us with 14 miles range and over 100 miles to travel home. This required us to charge on 3 occasions in order to get home 13 hours after we had left! My recommendation for newbies to EV's if you are buying secondhand go to a specialist EV seller, there are quite a few in the UK, feel free to ask me for advice.
I must say that now back in Wales and making the daily work run I am returning up to 3.5 kw per hour with a nominal range of up to 104 miles in temperatures of 10-14C. I am very pleased as now I do not require a charge at all during the working day, I even arrive home with miles to spare!
Welcome to the B250e
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