Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Cars
  3. News

Mercedes' answer to the Tesla Model X could be an electric crossover with 536 hp

Ronan Glon
By

Mercedes-Benz GLC-Class
Image used with permission by copyright holder
The all-new Tesla Model X currently has the premium electric crossover market to itself, but German media outlets are reporting it will have to fend off competition from Mercedes-Benz’s first-ever regular-production electric crossover before the end of the decade.

Tentatively dubbed ELC, the soft-roader will ride on a new platform called simply Electric Vehicle Architecture (EVA) that’s being developed to gradually underpin a full range of electric models. The ELC will compete in the same market segment as the recently-introduced GLC (pictured), but the two models will only share a handful of exterior parts including the roof panel and the windows.

Recommended Videos

Visually, it will stand out thanks to a much more aerodynamic silhouette than its gasoline-burning counterpart. Its front end will be more angular than the GLC’s, and it will usher in the design language that will influence all of Mercedes’ electric models in the coming years.

Related

Taking on a company like Tesla is easier said than done. Mercedes knows that, so it will equip the ELC with a powerful electric drivetrain made up of a lithium-ion battery pack located under the passenger compartment, and an electric motor mounted over each axle. The drivetrain will send up to 536 horsepower to all four wheels in its most powerful configuration, and the ELC will allegedly be capable of driving for nearly 250 miles on a single charge. Like Tesla, Mercedes is expected to offer more affordable variants of the crossover fitted with less potent drivetrains — possibly built around a single motor — and with a shorter driving range.

The ELC will be a technological tour de force. Notably, it will come with a long list of in-car connectivity features and driving aids, and it will inaugurate Mercedes’ wireless inductive charging, a technology that will cater to the lifestyles of EV owners by making the conventional charging cord obsolete.

The Mercedes-Benz ELC will be introduced at a major auto show in 2018, meaning it could land on our shores in time for the 2019 model year. It will be considerably more affordable than the Model X, and German magazine Auto Bild reports the Euro-spec model will start at just under (roughly $54,000).

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Ronan Glon
Ronan Glon
Contributor
Ronan Glon is an American automotive and tech journalist based in southern France. As a long-time contributor to Digital…
How do you crash-test an EV with an 871-pound battery? Mercedes showed us
Crash test with Mercedes-Benz EQS SUV and EQA electric cars.

A flash of light, a big bang, and it’s over. Two SUVs lie askew on a patch of concrete, a debris field scattered between them. They’ve just been in a head-on collision, the moment captured by high-speed cameras aided by blindingly bright lights. That’s what a successful day looks like at the Mercedes-Benz crash-test lab in Sindelfingen, Germany.

While spectacular and jarring, crash-tests aren’t special. Mercedes averages three per day at this facility, giving engineers plenty of data from onboard sensors and crash-test dummies to analyze behind closed doors. But this test was different.

Read more
One of the best values in electric SUVs comes from the last brand you’d expect
Mercedes-Benz EQB250+ Three Quarter

If you want an electric SUV, you had better be prepared to open your wallet. So far, the vast majority of great electric car models that have been released up until now have been crossover-sized -- leaving those who want an electric SUV stuck with options like the $70,000+ Rivian R1S.

Or so I thought.

Read more
Mercedes ‘Little G’ electric G-Wagon: Rumored design, release date
Concept image of the larger electric G-Wagon

Slowly, but surely, Mercedes-Benz is building electric versions of all of its different cars -- and it looks like a smaller electric G-Wagon may be coming up soon. Mercedes first announced an all-electric EQG in 2021, but even before the car is officially available to buy, the company is already planning a baby one too, affectionately dubbed the "Little G."

There's still a lot we don't know about the smaller electric G-Wagon. Here, however, is everything we do know so far.
Design
Design is a huge part of what makes a G-Wagon a G-Wagon. Because of that, it's almost certainly something that Mercedes won't compromise on.

Read more