C300e battery range

[beege]

Hi all,

I'm considering selling my 2018 facelift C200 estate and leasing a brand new c300e estate. On paper, the battery range seems really good at 66 miles. Obviously in the real world, I would not expect to get this figure. Are there any C300e owners on here that could share their experience of battery range? My daily commute is a 36 mile round trip, with around 30miles of that being motorway. I would be looking to charge the car at home every night.
I've never had a hybrid before so not sure if it would use all the battery range then switch over to the petrol, or if if continuously switches between a combination of the two.
My current C200 has the 1.5 mld hybrid engine - fuel consumption is okay (ish) but not brilliant. I imagine the 2l engine in the C300e would be substantially more thirsty than my current car - another concern as I don't want to end up paying so much for petrol that it offsets the savings from having a hybrid.
I can get the PHEV on a lease through an employee salary sacrifice scheme, so the lower BIK tax compared to the petrol / diesel versions makes it an attractive option in theory.

Appreciate anyone sharing their experiences / stories of C300e ownership

 

[stubax]

Hi all,

I'm considering selling my 2018 facelift C200 estate and leasing a brand new c300e estate. On paper, the battery range seems really good at 66 miles. Obviously in the real world, I would not expect to get this figure. Are there any C300e owners on here that could share their experience of battery range? My daily commute is a 36 mile round trip, with around 30miles of that being motorway. I would be looking to charge the car at home every night.
I've never had a hybrid before so not sure if it would use all the battery range then switch over to the petrol, or if if continuously switches between a combination of the two.
My current C200 has the 1.5 mld hybrid engine - fuel consumption is okay (ish) but not brilliant. I imagine the 2l engine in the C300e would be substantially more thirsty than my current car - another concern as I don't want to end up paying so much for petrol that it offsets the savings from having a hybrid.
I can get the PHEV on a lease through an employee salary sacrifice scheme, so the lower BIK tax compared to the petrol / diesel versions makes it an attractive option in theory.

Appreciate anyone sharing their experiences / stories of C300e ownership

Had a C300e for a couple of weeks now, really like it. As for range if you charge up to the recommended 80% level it shows 45 mile range (54miles on 100%charge), this increases with regeneration braking, coasting etc. Have a choice of battery save, hybrid, electric + 2 sport modes. On thursday I drove 98 miles into that lake district, had a half charged battery, used battery save mode until the end of motorway/dual carriageway when I switched to hybrid mode, battery was exhausted on arrival but car was showing 61.9 mpg for the journey. Had a demonstrator out beforehand and did 36 mixed miles on battery alone and battery wasn't exhausted.

 

[markjay]

As above, to optimise battery use, drive on battery on slow roads, especially those with heavy traffic, and use the engine on motorways.

 

[beege]

Thanks markjay and stubax for the replies?
What sort of mpg do you see from petrol alone?
Trip computer average is showing just under 36mpg over 69k miles on my current one; IMO fairly disappointing given the lacklustre performance of the 1.5 engine.
Currently spending around £180 a month on petrol for around 1000 miles.

 

[alexanderfoti]

My c300DE (W205 though) has 10KWH usable and I get 30miles out of my battery, regardless of what the OBC range says. It always starts off saying 24miles range.

Be carefull with indicated MPG as the OBC quotes MPG including energy that has come from the battery. Its essentially wrong unless you reset it once the battery is emtpy.

EG if you drive 100 miles, with a fully charged batt in hybrid mode, the car will use the batt for 30-40odd miles, then switch to petrol/hyrid mode. If you have use 1 gallon in 100 miles it will say 100MPG, but you have used the engine for 60miles not 100, so its actually 60mpg. The dash does diffentiate between engine on and engine off ,but in "emtpy battery" hybrid mode its off 30% of the time anyway, so gets muddling.

On the new c300E, a usable battery capacity of 25kwh, should give you realistically 60-65 miles of electric range. Heating use in EV only mode kills battery due to a PTC heating element (so pre condition whilst plugged i). AC does as well but less so.

 

[stubax]

Thanks markjay and stubax for the replies?
What sort of mpg do you see from petrol alone?
Trip computer average is showing just under 36mpg over 69k miles on my current one; IMO fairly disappointing given the lacklustre performance of the 1.5 engine.
Currently spending around £180 a month on petrol for around 1000 miles.

When I did the return leg from the Lakes with no battery power and in sport mode I got 33mpg and finished with 10 miles battery range, that's with normal driving and 70/80 on motorway.

 

[beege]

Thanks everyone for your replies - some useful info there
Sounds like mpg and switching between electric / petrol / hybrid isn’t quite as straightforward as I thought, but not necessarily a bad thing. I’ll see if I can get an extended test drive from my local helpful(?) MB dealer

 

[stubax]

Thanks everyone for your replies - some useful info there
Sounds like mpg and switching between electric / petrol / hybrid isn’t quite as straightforward as I thought, but not necessarily a bad thing. I’ll see if I can get an extended test drive from my local helpful(?) MB dealer

Just returned home from Lakes, setting left on hybrid, heavy rain and congestion on M6, see attached. Switching between modes is easy but you can just leave it in hybrid.

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

Sounds like mpg and switching between electric / petrol / hybrid isn’t quite as straightforward as I thought, but not necessarily a bad thing.

Just leave it in hybrid mode and let the car sort it all out

I’ve never owned a PHEV either, and one of the things that I might not be keen on is driving using battery power all the way to a fast road or motorway and the engine having to kick in without any warmth already in the engine.

 

[beege]

Just returned home from Lakes, setting left on hybrid, heavy rain and congestion on M6, see attached. Switching between modes is easy but you can just leave it in hybrid.

Just done a similar journey myself back from the lakes.
About 15 minutes of town driving, the rest A roads and motorways.
Definitely a noticeable difference in calculated mpg between mine and yours.
I think the thing that concerns me the most is how thirsty it will be on petrol once the batteries are completely depleted
Do you mind me asking how much it costs you to charge it?

 

[BTB 500]

I think the thing that concerns me the most is how thirsty it will be on petrol once the batteries are completely depleted

If it helps at all our 2019 petrol C300 (W205, M264 plain 2 litre turbo with no hybrid assist) gives mid-40s mpg on a decent run. That's an estate.

I would expect the M254 engine in a current W206 to be a little more efficient but the car would presumably be heavier with the hybrid drivetrain, which might cancel that out.

Hopefully someone who actually has a C300e will chime in with a proper answer!

 

[alexanderfoti]

Just done a similar journey myself back from the lakes.
About 15 minutes of town driving, the rest A roads and motorways.
Definitely a noticeable difference in calculated mpg between mine and yours.
I think the thing that concerns me the most is how thirsty it will be on petrol once the batteries are completely depleted
Do you mind me asking how much it costs you to charge it?

From the dash, it looks like you started your journey with an empty battery, is that right?

If yes. Your figures are more accurate than stubax's post, which includes 65 miles of EV only driving which skews the mpg reading, making it it more of an empg reading

 

[beege]

From the dash, it looks like you started your journey with an empty battery, is that right?

Mine’s not the hybrid version. Technically it is a mild hybrid but that’s more just to give a bit more acceleration at lower revs, it’s not designed to run off electric power alone

 

[alexanderfoti]

Mine’s not the hybrid version. Technically it is a mild hybrid but that’s more just to give a bit more acceleration at lower revs, it’s not designed to run off electric power alone

Ah! In that case, I think those figures are great

 

[beege]

Ah! In that case, I think those figures are great

To be fair I’ve always thought fuel economy was a bit disappointing since Ive owned the car, but I have to agree that’s not a bad figure for a large-ish petrol car.

 

[BTB 500]

To be fair I’ve always thought fuel economy was a bit disappointing since Ive owned the car, but I have to agree that’s not a bad figure for a large-ish petrol car.

Over 50 is pretty decent for a petrol estate IMHO. Found a screenshot from our W205 C300 estate:

 

[alexanderfoti]

Not many petrol estates the size of a c class that will get those figures.

My c300de does 65-68 on a run without battery, so compared to that it's still very good

 

[stubax]

Just done a similar journey myself back from the lakes.
About 15 minutes of town driving, the rest A roads and motorways.
Definitely a noticeable difference in calculated mpg between mine and yours.
I think the thing that concerns me the most is how thirsty it will be on petrol once the batteries are completely depleted
Do you mind me asking how much it costs you to charge it?

£5.52 from an empty battery on current standard tariff, that is assuming the battery takes a full 24kw.

 

[BTB 500]

£5.52 from an empty battery on current standard tariff, that is assuming the battery takes a full 24kw.

Is that an AC charge from a standard mains supply? If so charging losses are typically in the 20-30% range, so you'd likely be paying for 30 kWh or so. Still cheap though!

 

[markjay]

Is that an AC charge from a standard mains supply? If so charging losses are typically in the 20-30% range, so you'd likely be paying for 30 kWh or so. Still cheap though!

As above. Granny cable charging can see as much as up to 25% loss. Home wall boxes average around 10-15% loss. The lowest level of loss in ideal condition (DC charging, short thick cable, right battery and ambient temperatures) is around 5%, but these ideal conditions are rarely achieved.