Mercedes is very excited about the incoming CLA. It is the first model on its new MMA platform, which means, of course, that it’s the first fruit of a ginormous amount of investment - not least in the new battery-electric powertrains that will power it. These are so efficient and fast charging (up to 320kW) that Mercedes recently broke the record for the longest distance covered by an EV in 24 hours - clocking up 2,410 miles at Nardo. Which is an impressively long way to go in a day and a night in anyone’s book.
Naturally, that record relied on optimum conditions and many hands, but if the firm hits the real-world numbers it is targeting, then a WLTP range of more than 450 miles from the larger 85kWh battery (via a new, in-house designed rear-mounted 272hp motor with a two-speed transmission) might be possible. Mercedes reckons on long journeys, the battery-to-wheel efficiency might be as high as 93 per cent. Little wonder it has taken to describing the CLA as ‘the one-litre car of the electric age’.
Of course, if that all sounds very worthy and technologically impressive, yet also as interesting as saliva-flavoured chewing gum, then you’re not alone - although if that is the case, you’ll likely be tickled pink (as we were) to discover that Mercedes, thanks to ‘the wishes and mobility needs of customers in different regions of the world’ has found a way (think giant shoehorn) to introduce a petrol engine into the MMA platform. And not just any engine, a brand-new turbocharged four-pot. In a range of outputs. And it won’t even be a plug-in hybrid. What’s the saying again about wonders and them never ceasing?
The move is perhaps less fascinating for its wider strategic implications (these are readily understandable: Mercedes isn’t selling enough electric cars), and more interesting in terms of hoops. Because, technically speaking, the company has jumped through a bunch. For one thing, the newly developed mild-hybrid 1.5-litre unit had to be super-compact, a challenge its maker met by reducing the physical space between the cylinders and the side-by-side integration of the motor, inverter and transmission. Mercedes avoided a three-pot solution in favour of better refinement, although it still needed to invest in a ‘comprehensive NVH package consisting of foams and covers to reduce noise emission’ as well as extending the bulkhead insulation.
The eight-speed auto, dubbed ’eDCT’ because it incorporates the 27hp electric motor, is also new and features ‘widely spread’ gearshift stages, presumably ones that best compliment the Miller combustion cycle used by the engine. Needless to say, very high efficiency is the objective here, too, and though Mercedes hasn’t divulged a targeted fuel consumption figure, it’s safe to assume from the configuration - which is said to recuperate briskly enough to ‘drive purely electrically at urban speeds’ - that diesel-rivalling economy is on the cards. To that end, the 48-volt lithium-ion battery, flat packed with its DC converter, is also new and claimed to offer an ‘energy content of up to 1.3kWh’. Mercedes reckons that the petrol engine alone, thanks to a special feature that allows it to recuperate in all eight gears, is capable of recovering up to 25kW.
Predictably, the manufacturer doesn’t mention any performance figures for the mild-hybrid version of the production car (it will arrive slightly later anyway), but it has already confirmed that 135hp, 163hp and 190hp outputs will be available, and you’ll be able to choose between front- and four-wheel drive. Obviously it’ll be slower than the pure-electric version and modestly noisier - but it’ll be lighter and cheaper to buy and probably more interesting to drive over greater distances. And better than that, given the engine’s modular design and apparent scalability, it’s probably a sign of things to come. We’ve certainly woken up to worse news on a Monday.
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