Photo: Guido Ten Brink/SB-Medien
For years, concept vehicles using an electric powertrain have stood out among their gas-powered counterparts like a pink clown at a business meeting. Well, those days appear to be over, and the Mercedes-Benz EQA Concept is the perfect example to illustrate that.
With traditional carmakers more and more serious about their intentions on the EV market, their battery-powered concepts are starting to look less like fantasy vehicles spawned by the bored minds of designers frustrated by the confines of brand identity, and more like something you might actually want to drive.
With the prospect of a production version based on these show cars, we see a much more sensible approach that can be more easily translated onto the road. That being said, the EQA Concept is far for being a mundane vehicle.
The most striking elements are the absence of the front grille - replaced by a huge black panel - and the lighting elements. The latter are made out of laser fibers, replacing the standard LEDs for a more homogeneous lighting of the road as well as an unmistakable visual signature.
The panel has an integrated LED matrix that can display various images depending on the driver's wishes, ranging from a flaming wing in "Sport" mode to the vertical struts of the Panamericana grille in "Sport Plus" model. To round off the exclusive yet sporty design of the three-door compact hatchback, the Mercedes-Benz EQA Concept received a set of custom-made 20-inch wheels to fill those gaping arches.
Its athletic design is complimented by a more than decent powertrain consisting of two electric motors for a combined output of 200 kW (272 hp) and 500 Nm (369 lb-ft) of maximum torque. Mercedes didn't say anything about the EQA's top speed, but we do know it can reach 100 km/h (62 mph) in just five seconds. That's not exactly Tesla-fast, but it is hot-hatch-fast.
The battery is made by the Daimler subsidiary Deutsche ACCUMOTIVE and has a total capacity of 60 kWh. The company says it's enough to give the compact EV a maximum range of 400 km (249 miles), but it doesn't specify by what standards. Since European manufacturers normally use the NEDC as a reference, that could translate to a much lower real-life range.
With a launch scheduled no sooner than 2020, there's still plenty of time for Mercedes-Benz to improve on these specs. According to Dieter Zetsche, the CEO of Daimler AG and Head of Mercedes-Benz Cars, the company wants to have ten all-electric vehicles in its lineup by 2022.
With the first one - an electric SUV based on the Generation EQ Concept - planned for 2019 and the second - derived from the EQA - coming in 2020, that means the Germans will soon go into overdrive. If the EQA Concept is a sign of things to come from Mercedes-Benz, then competition on the EV front is just starting to become interesting.
With the prospect of a production version based on these show cars, we see a much more sensible approach that can be more easily translated onto the road. That being said, the EQA Concept is far for being a mundane vehicle.
The most striking elements are the absence of the front grille - replaced by a huge black panel - and the lighting elements. The latter are made out of laser fibers, replacing the standard LEDs for a more homogeneous lighting of the road as well as an unmistakable visual signature.
The panel has an integrated LED matrix that can display various images depending on the driver's wishes, ranging from a flaming wing in "Sport" mode to the vertical struts of the Panamericana grille in "Sport Plus" model. To round off the exclusive yet sporty design of the three-door compact hatchback, the Mercedes-Benz EQA Concept received a set of custom-made 20-inch wheels to fill those gaping arches.
Its athletic design is complimented by a more than decent powertrain consisting of two electric motors for a combined output of 200 kW (272 hp) and 500 Nm (369 lb-ft) of maximum torque. Mercedes didn't say anything about the EQA's top speed, but we do know it can reach 100 km/h (62 mph) in just five seconds. That's not exactly Tesla-fast, but it is hot-hatch-fast.
The battery is made by the Daimler subsidiary Deutsche ACCUMOTIVE and has a total capacity of 60 kWh. The company says it's enough to give the compact EV a maximum range of 400 km (249 miles), but it doesn't specify by what standards. Since European manufacturers normally use the NEDC as a reference, that could translate to a much lower real-life range.
With a launch scheduled no sooner than 2020, there's still plenty of time for Mercedes-Benz to improve on these specs. According to Dieter Zetsche, the CEO of Daimler AG and Head of Mercedes-Benz Cars, the company wants to have ten all-electric vehicles in its lineup by 2022.
With the first one - an electric SUV based on the Generation EQ Concept - planned for 2019 and the second - derived from the EQA - coming in 2020, that means the Germans will soon go into overdrive. If the EQA Concept is a sign of things to come from Mercedes-Benz, then competition on the EV front is just starting to become interesting.
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