In this article:
Who is the Mercedes-Benz EQA a good car for?
What is the Mercedes-Benz EQA like to drive?
Tech features in the Mercedes-Benz EQA
Similar cars to the Mercedes-Benz EQA
Is the Mercedes-Benz EQA a good car?
It's rather good, yes - my time in this model proved to be an ultra-luxurious and high-tech driving experience! With regard to reliability, it's too soon to tell. (If you want to know more about the EQA and the slew of Merc's other EQ models, click here. )
Find out what electric cars are for sale in SA, here.
Who is the Mercedes-Benz EQA a good car for?
It's excellent for families, couples, and well-heeled singles. The interior is very spacious, the boot is a nice, practical size, and it's very easy to live with in general. If you're not on the Eskom grid, even better - but plugging the car into my normal garage power socket overnight, I woke up to more than enough energy in the battery for the daily grind. After a trip from Caledon to Napier and back, I had 33 percent left, but the next day around lunchtime I was back to 72%, charging in super-snail (1.6kWh) mode. But if you have a wall-box, things are quicker. To find out more, you can listen to the Electric Avenue AutoTrader podcast.
Filling up at the fast-charger on the N2 outside Caledon, I charged from about 52% to 77% in only 23 minutes.
The 22kW AC charge point in Hermanus charged the EQA from 92 to 100% in 30 minutes, and this is about the going rate at public AC chargers if you don't charge at home, so it just depends what you have access to, but we better get used to it - in this article, Sean asks: Why are electric cars the future?
Is the Mercedes-Benz a good first car?
Considering its price, perhaps not - but if money is no object, it's easy to drive and very safe. New drivers may not like the fact that the car has to be plugged in every night and might not have access to this infrastructure. Then again, if it's a new driver who lives in a house that's off the grid and who has a Mercedes-Benz wall box installed in the garage, it's ideal. In the same breath, our readers have also asked if electric car batteries are bad for the environment - find the answer here.
Related: BMW iX xDrive40 (2022) Video Review
Is the Mercedes-Benz EQA a good family car?
It's perfect for families. The second row is very spacious and can seat three adults side by side. Legroom is ample too, and there is a USB-C port at the rear of the centre console for rear passengers. But the burning question is: Can it road-trip?
Family road-tripping is NOT out of the question - the realistic range on one full battery is around 380 km, not quite 430 km or even 480 as the brand suggests, but it will be enough if you plan your trip properly, taking active charging stations and load-shedding schedules into consideration. This is key to EV ownership! So, what are the options to charge your EV? Find out here.
To view a live charging map of South Africa, courtesy of Gridcars (on GeorgeMienie.co.za), click here.
View the latest used and new Mercedes-Benz EQAs for sale in South Africa
What’s it like to drive?
The EQA is a dream to drive. Its suspension is perfect, there's that surge of power when you put your foot down, the quiet whoosh when you pull away on pure electricity, and that whisper-quiet cabin. It may not be a firecracker, taking 8.9 seconds to reach a 100 km from 0, but if you're driving to conserve energy in the Eco setting and make use of one-pedal driving (where the brakes are applied every time you remove your foot from the accelerator), you won't be keen to go over the speed limit. Should you need that instant acceleration power, switch to Sport!
What does it look like?
The EQA and GLA are fairly similar in terms of aesthetics, but the front grille in the EQA is closed off and sports a lovely glass panel. To modernise its appearance and set it apart from its ICE sibling, light bars span the front and rear.
What is the Mercedes-Benz EQA like inside?
The interior is sporty, futuristic and glamorous, with beautiful finishes and vibrant ambient lighting in a variety of colour choices and combinations. The cabin is all about that fine Bavarian build quality, and is much more impressive than what you'll find in most of the non-EQ Mercedes-Benz models. Plenty of recycled materials are used throughout the cabin.
Tech features
The EQA is basically a computer on wheels, and I would need to write another couple of articles just to cover the onboard tech, but let's take a look at the Satnav with Electric Intelligence, which paramount in preventing range anxiety:
Navigation with Electric Intelligence takes numerous factors into account in an intelligent way to plan the fastest route, including charging stops, and can even react dynamically to changes, for example to traffic hold-ups. While a conventional range calculator lives from past data, the Navigation with Electric Intelligence system in the EQA looks into the future.
The calculation of the route takes into account, for example, the electric range, the current electrical consumption, the topography of the proposed route (due to the energy requirement) and the temperatures along the way (due to the duration of the charge).
Further factors include the traffic situation along the planned route, as well as the available charging stations to be found there and their capacity. The customer does not necessarily always have to take on board a full charge, but will be given a specific recommendation as to the required charging time at the charging station. The charging station stops will be planned in the way that is most favourable for the overall travelling time: in certain circumstances it may be that two brief charges at a higher charging capacity will be faster than one long charge. - Mercedes-Benz
Pricing for the EQA
There are two variants on offer: The EQA250 Progressive (pictured), R1 174 000, and the EQA250 AMG Line, at R1 227 000 - not cheap, we know, but one day we'll have affordable EVS too. (Find out when electric cars will become cheaper.)
*Pricing correct at time of publishing and subject to change without notice.
Related: BMW iX xDrive40 review (2021)- Reinventing the premium BMW SUV concept
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