Wanna cruise with GRM crew in Monterey?
[Get the most out of Monterey Car Week: 2023 insider guide]
Mercedes-Benz graciously tossed us the keys to an all-electric 2023 EQE 500 4MATIC SUV for us to drive during Monterey Car Week.
Follow along for updates–and feel free to drop any questions or comments you have.
Where are the rear cup holders for the coffee of Marketing Coordinator Nicole Suddard.
Day: 2
Starting SoC: 53%
We picked up the Benz yesterday with a nearly full charge at the San Francisco airport, then drove it down to Pacific Grove to start Car Week.
Pacific Grove doesn't have any "fast chargers" but does have a few medium-speed level three chargers. We haven't used any yet, instead plugging into a slow 3kw level 2 charger during lunch yesterday. After a trip down 17 mile drive and over to Carmel Valley for dinner, we parked the Benz half-full at the hotel. That's where our story picks up today. We're headed to Salinas to pick up some event stuff, then tootling around Monterey for the rest of the week.
How's it drive? We'll get to that....
J.A. Ackley said:
Where are the rear cup holders for the coffee of Marketing Coordinator Nicole Suddard.
That's a 1 point deduction for me. 
J.A. Ackley said:
Where are the rear cup holders for the coffee of Marketing Coordinator Nicole Suddard.
Apparently you're halfway there. Poke that little pen holder thingy again, it comes out more the second time.
Interesting that the battery has a 10 year 155,000 mile warranty. Why 155k and not 150k? Or 160k? That just seems oddly specific. But pretty cool that they're warrantying the battery for a long term. How does that stack up against the market?
wae said:Interesting that the battery has a 10 year 155,000 mile warranty. Why 155k and not 150k? Or 160k? That just seems oddly specific. But pretty cool that they're warrantying the battery for a long term. How does that stack up against the market?
155k miles is 249.4k km. Wonder if it's a 250k km warranty and they just picked a round number when converting to miles?
-Rob
I would think that if I'm paying $89,000+ for a vehicle I wouldn't have to add $450 for ventilated front seats?
wae said:Interesting that the battery has a 10 year 155,000 mile warranty. Why 155k and not 150k? Or 160k? That just seems oddly specific. But pretty cool that they're warrantying the battery for a long term. How does that stack up against the market?
I know that a Tesla Model 3 LR has a battery and drive unit warranty or 8 years/120k. The Model S and X have a 150k limit, and the SR Model 3 is 100k. Basically, the bigger the battery the longer the warranty in that case.
More importantly, have they figured out the rear cupholder yet?
So, initial impressions: This feels like a $50,000 compact SUV with a nice interior. Sort of like if you took a Model Y to a custom shop and asked to feel like you're sitting in a Bentley. But I have no idea how this could possibly cost $100,000.
The driving dynamics are fairly atrocious, worse even than the Model Y. Think malaise-era American body control and steering feedback. This is a Mercedes tuning strategy in general--the past few modern Mercedes SUVs I've driven have been under sprung with disconnected steering.
It's also not fast. Road noise/wind noise is on par with a $50,000 car.
On the bright side, the turning radius is insanely good thanks to four-wheel steering. Like, U-turn on a two-lane road good. That, paired with the chassis tuning, makes me think the city is what this is aimed at.
I need to spend more time in it, but the first 150 miles have not been ideal.
I think it will be an interesting week with all the EVs coming to the area and not that many chargers yet ,
I hope you like it better by weeks end because so far your review is not going to make points at MB HQ :)
It's not as bad as you might think, especially if you were smart enough to book a hotel with a Level 2 charger :)
How about 50 kW+? Fewer, but they're out there.
Hang on, what if you can't use the Tesla network?
If you filter for 150+ kW CCS, you basically end up at the Safeway in Pacific Grove. It'll take a little planning, but it's a relatively constrained area with short distances traveled so the van's probably not going to need charging more than once during the week. And you don't need to leave Monterey with a full battery, there are a number of fast chargers on the way back to SFO.
Yeah, there's no charger at our hotel, which is the only reason it's even on my mind--normally I'd walk out to a full car every day. Hotels for Car Week need to be booked a year or so in advance, and I had no idea I'd be in an EV when I booked.
I think this week is a pretty fair test of what it's like to live in an EV without home charging, so I'm glad I'm getting to see what it's like.
As Keith noted, the only 150kw+ charger is at that Safeway, and every time I've driven by there's been a line of new VW ID4s waiting to use the single functioning stall at that location. Most of every manufacturer's west-coast press fleet is in Monterey this week, which means lots of cars without home charging all competing for very limited fast charging resources. There is a two-stall 62.5kw charger in Pacific Grove, which I'm calling medium speed, as it'll take somewhere around 1.5-2 hours to charge the car. But they've been full every time, too, and I've instead plugged into a 3.9kw level 2 charger that's next to the restaurants downtown.
So what's my plan? Well, I should only have to fully charge once or twice during the week. So when I go into town for food, I drive by the 62.5kw charger and see if it's empty. Eventually it probably will be, and I'll plug in while I'm eating and be good to go. If not, I'll eventually just go wait in line at Safeway for the fast charger.
After another full day of driving around, the car is at about 35% full. That's somewhere around 100 miles, so I'll need to solve my charging problem in the next day or two.
I see a few ways to fix the problem of EVs without home charging:
So which is the right answer? Ultimately, it will probably be a mix of all of them. Convenience stores next to the highway should build fast level 3 chargers for road trips. Businesses in dense urban areas should build medium-speed level 3 chargers to attract EV drivers without home charging. And hotels should add cheap level 2 chargers to help attract customers, the same way free breakfast is a nice perk. And all of these exist in Pacific Grove, but not yet in the numbers to support the area's biggest week of tourism of the year.
This week, I'd love more 50 or 60kw chargers, meaning I could easily charge the car during dinner one night.
Keith Tanner said:More importantly, have they figured out the rear cupholder yet?
Yes--you nailed it. Not sure why that design exists, but thanks to Keith we figured it out!
3.9kW isn't even a very good Level 2. It's definitely stressing the infrastructure in the area. It's a harder test than just "no home charging" because of the influx of journalists all driving the content of every press fleet in a small town. At least the GRM crew isn't living with an EV for the first time, you'll be a lot more familiar with how it all works. I'd be tempted to sneak out to the Safeway bright and early in the morning and do some writing/editing while the car feeds. You're on Eastern time anyhow!
You're going to be at the track. Turn the other way when you leave, head for Salinas and get your fill :)
Keith Tanner said:3.9kW isn't even a very good Level 2. It's definitely stressing the infrastructure in the area. It's a harder test than just "no home charging" because of the influx of journalists all driving the content of every press fleet in a small town.
You're going to be at the track. Turn the other way, head for Salinas and get your fill :)
Yeah, it's a 7.6kw charger that splits to two 3.9kw feeds when two cars are plugged in--and there's always a PHEV plugged in to the other spot because, well, demographics of Pacific Grove. This is definitely a torture test for the infrastructure.
There's also an issue of perverse economic incentives here: My press car came with a card for free charging, and I'm sure most of the other ones did, too. And many new EVs come with a period of free charging, too. So all of these additional EVs in town came without the normal price pressures that limit demand.
Success!
Tom Suddard said:So, initial impressions: This feels like a $50,000 compact SUV with a nice interior. Sort of like if you took a Model Y to a custom shop and asked to feel like you're sitting in a Bentley. But I have no idea how this could possibly cost $100,000.
The driving dynamics are fairly atrocious, worse even than the Model Y. Think malaise-era American body control and steering feedback. This is a Mercedes tuning strategy in general--the past few modern Mercedes SUVs I've driven have been under sprung with disconnected steering.
It's also not fast. Road noise/wind noise is on par with a $50,000 car.
On the bright side, the turning radius is insanely good thanks to four-wheel steering. Like, U-turn on a two-lane road good. That, paired with the chassis tuning, makes me think the city is what this is aimed at.
I need to spend more time in it, but the first 150 miles have not been ideal.
That's really disappointing. Last year I had a GLC300 as a loaner for about a week and I was similarly underwhelmed. It seemed like a Mazda CX-whatever would have delivered the same amount of room, similar power levels, more features, and slightly better driving dynamics while also letting me keep a bunch of extra space bucks in my wallet. The E350 and the GLE-something that I've had since, however, were more what I would expect from a Benz.
I am hopeful you can discover any of the remaining hidden chargers, but with your busy schedules, that could be the nail in the coffin. Similar to the EQS, which does handle a bit better/faster, my concern is the batteries. Not that warranty, but issues that have happened. Our neighbors in Ponte Vedra, Florida had one as a dealer "loaner", and while unplugged in a garage, it burst into flames, destroying the car and house... My Flat six from Germany and her garage mate V8, both NAS, from Lexus, will be staying a long time..... Good Luck at the awesome location - wish we were there again....
Cash Snively
Ponte Vedra
In reply to cashsnively :
You made me look that up. Apparently the fire department hasn't come up with the cause of the fire yet as it only happened a few weeks ago, but the way the car burned indicates it probably wasn't related to the fact that it was an EV. Here's what Autoevolution has to say:
The fire department is still investigating the cause of the fire. However, judging by the looks of the charred car body, it doesn't appear to be a battery fire. A typical Li-Ion battery generates high temperatures when it burns, often consuming a large section of the car directly on top of the battery pack. It's not unusual to find the front of the EV almost intact and the rest of the vehicle missing. The EQE involved in the Florida fire still has most of its metal parts in place, which is consistent with a regular fire, probably caused by a non-battery-related electrical problem.
In other words, it's a bit early to take this particular tale as a reason to be concerned about EV batteries quite yet.
Hey, while the GRM crew is in Monterey - watch out for a white Mk1 Ford Econobox with #63 on the door. My uncle raced it in 1970 and the current owner has restored it back to that condition, including the Bob Tanner (might be Rob, I'm not sure what he used then) on the roof. I think it might be at the concours. Pics please!
It wasn't at the concours, it was on track! Won the final race of the weekend from pole. My uncle is pretty proud.
See "Team One and Six" on the door? That refers to a sixpence and a shilling in the old English coinage of the time, or a Bob and a Tanner.
And here's a link to the finished review:
https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/articles/2023-mercedes-benz-eqe-review/
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