Driving the future of Mercedes-Benz EVs
Also: How the ZR1 got so fast
Greetings from Frankfurt airport, where I arrived a few hours late and therefore am spending a few extra hours waiting, missed connection and all that. All the more time to get you caught up on what I was up to when it comes to publishing this week. Suffice it to say it was a busy one!
The frozen future of MB EVs
Last time I wrote, I was winging my way back home from Sweden, and now I can tell you what I was up to up there. Sweden is, of course, ground zero for winter vehicle performance testing this time of year. Pick any little hotel in Lapland in February, and you'll find yourself surrounded by engineers at the breakfast buffet, tired souls wearing puffy jackets emblazoned with the logos of every manufacturer and supplier you can think of.
This year, the conversation across the piles of overcooked scrambled eggs and soggy croissants was largely about the weather. The air is supposed to be cold in Sweden this time of year and the lakes frozen. This year, that air was full of rain when I arrived, and there was open water visible out the window. I heard one engineer grousing that it was the warmest winter they've had in more than 20 years, another said it was 100 years.
The sense of resignation to the sad state of things was palpable in the air, leaving me to wonder if these engineering expeditions would start to travel further north in the future. Regardless, the team at Mercedes managed to find enough good ice and snow for me to do some testing of my own.
I started out in the upcoming electric GLC. The GLC is one of Mercedes-Benz's most popular SUVs, not just because it's among their most affordable. It's right-sized and looks great, and while I can't say much about how this electric one will look inside and out, I can say that it drove great. You can catch my impressions of that at Edmunds and at Engadget.
In the GLC we covered some surprisingly serious terrain, steep mountain trails covered in loose snow and ice that, despite having no studs, the GLC scampered right up, its air suspension providing the extra ground clearance and compliance to tackle the worst of it.
The main event, though, was time behind the wheel of the upcoming CLA. This is Mercedes' smallest sedan and marks the production debut of many range-boosting technologies that Mercedes has been teasing us with for years. Batteries with greater energy density, motors with greater efficiency, a heat pump that heats the cabin twice as quickly despite putting half the burden on the battery… these are some of the highlights, but there's a lot more you can read in my writeup at Ars Technica.
Both the GLC and CLA share many of these uprated concepts that should make for some remarkably competent and capable EVs. The only question is whether Benz's loyal buyers will want them. I certainly hope so, because while I also drove the CLA hybrid up there, the EV is the far better option.
Read about the CLA at Ars Technica
Read about the GLC at Engadget and Edmunds
Simulating the ZR1's speed
If you've ever driven a racing simulator of any provenance in your life, you're probably looking at that screenshot above and thinking "Those are some seriously terrible graphics." You're absolutely right, but as is usually the case in the best driving sims, the visuals aren't really the point, and this isn't a rendering from a driving sim anyway. This visualization represents some of the insanely detailed physics calculations that went into the Chevrolet Corvette ZR1's record-setting 233-mph run.
GM's engineers calculated everything from increased drag due to air temperature to increased thrust from the ZR1's exhaust. The result of their calculations was remarkably accurate, and you can read all about it exclusively at The Verge.
Finally, since everyone loves puppy pics, I wanted to share a new addition to the Stevens family. Meet Koopa. He's a couple-month-old puppy of unknown breed provenance (guesses most certainly welcomed), but whatever genetic markers he's carrying, they're clearly cute ones. Follow me on Instagram if you want more updates on this little guy -- though I fear he won't be little for long.
That's all for now. I should shuffle off to my flight connection before Monday's German airport worker strike shuts down air traffic in the entire country. Yes, three trips to Germany in as many weeks. I'm out here this time checking out some future Volkswagens, plus a little Spanish forbidden fruta. More on all that next time.