The numbers shown all look great but the most important one will likely be the price.

I like my EV but they aren't winning any emotional battles so the price needs to not make the gas equivalents look like a bargain. I also doubt most are doing a TCO calculation.

It's a prototype, so I reckon it's to hide the actual contours, to not ruin the big reveal. Or it's not really finished yet.

Or maybe it's a blanket because it's Sweden in the winter after all!

The net result is a machine that promises to go 5.2 miles/kWh (11.9 kWh/100 km) and offers 466 miles (750 km) of range from the 85 kWh usable capacity "premium" battery pack. That's on the European WLTP cycle, so on the American EPA cycle we can probably expect something closer to 400 miles (644 km). That still compares very favorably to the 308 miles (497 km) the current EQE can manage from its 96 kWh battery pack.

I am using WLTP for the old EQE and the new CLA. I have

• new CLA: 750 kmWLTP, with a 85kwh battery;
• old EQE: 662km, with 96kwh battery.

Range goes up by 13%, battery goes down by 12%. Which means (if my maths is correct), that the efficiency (km per kwh) of the new CLA should be about 28% higher than the efficiency of the old EQE.

This is a remarkable generational improvement. I'm not sure it can come from the engine alone (electric engines have an efficiency of about 90%), nor not from the battery alone (as far as I understand, a "better battery" can improve range simply because it weights less, but 85kwh are 85kwh regardless of the chemistry). Heat pumps absorb about 1kwh, sure you can improve but here the low haging fruit is switching to heat pump from not having it. And the aerodinamic drag of old EQE is already good.

It seems Mercedes has heavily focused on efficiency in all sectors, and I hope this approach trickles down to cheaper cars, by Mercedes and by others.

Chapeau to Mercedes!

I almost bought a used EQB but it could not find prices for most parts, the warranty on battery was short, they seem uncommitted to EVs so I didn't want to potentially lose that money. I could not find whether I could put a trailer hitch on to haul a bike rack. This is part of the issue with low volume EVs.

I was always opposed to buying a Tesla because of their owner, but the volume makes answers to questions like those above possible to answer. Ended up with an outlander PHEV and we are happy enough with it even though I would have preferred a full EV.

It's a prototype, so I reckon it's to hide the actual contours, to not ruin the big reveal. Or it's not really finished yet.

Or maybe it's a blanket because it's Sweden in the winter after all!

But I imagine if you had that on the road, AI car features wouldn't recognize the car as a car..

It's anti-photography Camo. Prototypes are often covered in such patterns. The original purpose was to hide the vehicle contours and style by making it very hard for photo-journalists to take pictures of the cars.

This has stopped working years ago because digital cameras are now so high resolution but car companies still stick with it.

But I imagine if you had that on the road, AI car features wouldn't recognize the car as a car..

What's an "AI car feature"?

I hope this approach trickles down to cheaper cars, by Mercedes and by others.

Isn't the CLA their entry level sedan?

Isn't the CLA their entry level sedan?

Yes but the word entry level is doing a lot of work here when the ICE version of the CLA starts at €44,000.