A short-form walk-around interview (Guy Kawasaki interviewing Bastian, a Mercedes testing engineer) describing the prototype Mercedes‑Benz EQC. Key points: the demo drive suggests an electric range around 220–230 miles; the EQC uses two electric motors (front and rear) rated ~150 kW each for a combined ~300 kW (~408 hp); battery pack is mounted under the vehicle; motors spin above 10,000 rpm and are mounted with double rubber isolation to reduce noise; production will be in Bremen (Germany) with a China-built version in Beijing; European deliveries mid‑2019 and US deliveries early 2020; US pricing to be announced in spring; Mercedes plans about 10 electrified models by 2022 (mix of plug‑in, 48V mild hybrids, and full EVs).
Questions this video answers
About 220–230 miles
Two motors, ~150 kW each; total system output ~300 kW (~408 hp)
Underneath the vehicle (along the floor)
Over 10,000 revolutions per minute
Main production in Bremen, Germany; Chinese version built in Beijing, China
Chapters
Okay.
Okay.
Here we go. First, introduce yourself.
Hi, my name is Bastian. I'm working for the testing department for the eqc.
So rumor has it you're an engineer.
Pardon? I'm a real engineer. Normally you're only dealing with the marketing.
PR guys like these guys.
Okay.
I'm the technical guy.
Yeah, yeah.
All right.
So this is the prototype of the new EQC we present on the CESAR 2019. So in a couple of weeks.
Okay.
And I learned the most important question is about the electric range.
Yep.
So they. Right now we are. We've been. We started in San Francisco, we went down to Big Sur, and now we on our way back to. To San Francisco. And I think we will end up to turn 220, 230 miles.
Yeah.
So I think it's not too bad.
Cool.
Marketing. I can step in. We started in Sunnyvale. No, San Francisco, like 30 kilometers north.
Once in the engineering gets it wrong.
So.
And yeah, regarding the. The output, we have two engines, two electric powertrains, one on the. On the front axle, one on the rear axle. Each of them 150 kilowatts. So in total, we have the system output of 300 kilowatt, which is more.408 horsepower.
Let's open this out. Let's see. I mean, show us the inside and, you know, show stuff. We have people with limited attention spans watching.
So you're used to the mbux we have already. So we got a little bit more interior on the EQ menu.
So this is obviously one long continuous display. Yeah, just like my S63.
More or less smaller. Yeah. So this is similar or almost the same from the A class.
The A class.
Okay.
And is it two plus three?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Okay.
And then I just want to verify for all you surfers, you need to have this thing right here. You flip this up like that, and then you can put in racks like this. Because if you own a Mercedes, you need to be able to carry your surfboards. Okay, let's see the. The hatch. That's how you open it.
Yeah.
Oh, fully loaded.
Is this a peak design bag?
This is not. But we do have shoe bags. Yeah.
Cool. Okay, there a lot of space for the red suits. Yeah.
Can we see the front?
Sure. Let's go to the front. In the back here, a nice logo, as you see.
Okay.
And this very future design. Very seamless, Very, very clean.
Can we open it up?
Yeah, sure.
Still is a Mercedes grill. Yeah.
Looks like Dieter's mustache.
Come on.
Well, not a lot of access, huh? Oh, okay.
So you see a lot of stuff. And as we have almost the. The output of a comparable GLC 43 something. It's very smaller engine than the normal V6. So electronics on the. On the. On the engine, on the powertrain, a frame to. To mount it into the car. And all these very, very orange.
What are all these things?
These are the high voltage cables. Okay. Always be aware. Don't cut these.
Never, never, never, never cut that.
You should never open that. But it.
It's safe, you can cut it. It's. Nothing will happen. But you. Yeah.
Is that you're aware of that's high.
Voltage and dumb question, but where are the batteries?
In the back.
Underneath.
All underneath.
All underneath all the way along.
Yeah.
What you can see here, like this frame, this is. On one hand it's a crash structure.
It helps in case of an accident.
But it also it.
It holds the.
The electric engine. And so you can explain what the cool part about is, because an engine really. I learned as marketing guy, you learned something. Yeah, I learned a lot during this. Like this is. This turns really fast.
Very fast.
Like this is. Yeah. And fast movement.
More than 10,000 rounds a minute. So it's very. It's a high frequent noise. You don't have to. To. To. You don't want to hear inside the can. So we have two. Two ways to mount it. First in the frame, it's mounted by this rubbers. So a little bit disconnected from the. The engine is disconnected to the frame. And then this. The second one is the frame is disconnected with the same rubber mounts from the whole chassis.
Okay.
So two times disconnected to get only a few.
Are we quoting prices yet?
No, we have no US Price yet. Okay. No, we're gonna do this in spring.
Are we quoting US delivery yet?
It's gonna be early 2020.
Okay.
In Europe it's going to be mid-2016. Sorry, 16, 2019. Yeah. Year. And US is following later.
And where will it be made?
We're producing it mainly in Bremen in Germany. Okay. That's the same plant where we do C class, C class estate and also glc. And the Chinese version will be built in China and Beijing.
That's the plan.
Is the plan to electrify the whole line?
Yeah. Different kinds of electrifications. We do plug in hybrids, of course. We do 48 voltage, which is kind of a mild hybrid. And then we obviously have electric cars. And we plan on 10 different models till 2022. This can be from a compact car to something like this and even up to a full size SUV or sedan.
