C350e owners club

[Nick Harper]

New member, first post. I'm thinking of buying a brand new C350e AMG Line Premium Plus Estate but I would like the Driving assistance package. I'm struggling with the UK web site because this doesn't appear to be available for the 350e except for the AMG or Sport. Is this the case or am I going mad? If it's not available for the AMG Line, is there a good reason?

 

[Nick Harper]

New member, first post. I'm thinking of buying a brand new C350e AMG Line Premium Plus Estate but I would like the Driving assistance package. I'm struggling with the UK web site because this doesn't appear to be available for the 350e except for the AMG or Sport. Is this the case or am I going mad? If it's not available for the AMG Line, is there a good reason?

Driving Assistance is not available on AMG Line. I test-drove a Sport today. Will be ordering a C350e Sport Prem Plus Estate with Driving Assistance tomorrow.

 

[350e]

I Will be ordering a C350e Sport Prem Plus Estate with Driving Assistance tomorrow.

Have a nice day

 

[Dodgy]

From what I've read, the main difference is that in 'charge' the electric is not available at all. Thus you are driving purely on the ICE.

On E-Save it's still a hybrid, albeit one that is minimising electric use.


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I did the E-SAVE test again yesterday, but on a different road with more hills and more traffic. When I reached the first dual carriageway, I had about 40% of the battery left. I flipped to E-SAVE and the charge level began to climb, but it stopped at 59% instead of 65%.

I also noticed that it only charged the battery on flat or downhill sections, never on uphill.

Economy improved when it had stopped charging, but the road was too busy to say how much. There was plenty of coasting and slow stuff and even some breaking to be done, so there was no clear pattern.

On the way home, E-SAVE did roughly the same, but I started from a lower battery level and it stopped charging at 29% when it could easily have charged to 40%+. I'm guessing the car calculates that 29% is enough power to do the few urban miles between the end of the 70mph dual carriageway and home.

I only did 43.5 mpg for the 110 mile trip, so I don't think it's much better than hybrid.


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[CaptainChaos]

It shouldn't be recharging from the ICE in E-SAVE so I am surprised by you going from 40 to 59%. This sounds more like the use of CHARGE. The recharging you should be seeing is a result of the type of driving you are doing at the time. For instance it can't recharge uphill unless you have gone hell for leather at the bottom of the hill and coasted over the last bit. It should only recharge in E-SAVE if you are off the throttle and coasting, or braking.

E-SAVE isn't a substitute for HYBRID. It's a means of conserving battery power for a more suitable time. For instance if you are on the open road but heading into a city centre. I use it on my way home as I have an uphill motorway stretch followed by suburban slog. I prefer to do the motorway in E-SAVE and then I have my battery left for the stop-start crawl. If I left it in HYBRID I would use too much battery up and then I'd be stop starting on ICE for the slow busy bit which is much better on electric power.

 

[Rassiloth]

I think, from watching mine, that on the flat and downhill the system disengages the ICE whenever it can and uses the electric motor as a regeneration generator. You should probably see the green recovery leds light up(not totally sure on this but I'll look next time out).

Did a nearly 600 mile round trip on Saturday using a mix of Hybrid and E-Save with an average mpg of just under 45mpg.


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[Dodgy]

It shouldn't be recharging from the ICE in E-SAVE so I am surprised by you going from 40 to 59%. This sounds more like the use of CHARGE. The recharging you should be seeing is a result of the type of driving you are doing at the time. For instance it can't recharge uphill unless you have gone hell for leather at the bottom of the hill and coasted over the last bit. It should only recharge in E-SAVE if you are off the throttle and coasting, or braking.

E-SAVE isn't a substitute for HYBRID. It's a means of conserving battery power for a more suitable time. For instance if you are on the open road but heading into a city centre. I use it on my way home as I have an uphill motorway stretch followed by suburban slog. I prefer to do the motorway in E-SAVE and then I have my battery left for the stop-start crawl. If I left it in HYBRID I would use too much battery up and then I'd be stop starting on ICE for the slow busy bit which is much better on electric power.

I agree in theory, but it's not what I'm seeing in practice. At 70mph, E-SAVE is:
- ICE and charge on the flat or downhill
- ICE only uphill
- ICE only on the flat and downhill if the satnav has decided there's no point in charging
- ICE off and regen when coasting or steep downhill
- ICE off and electric motor on if there's slow traffic

Not what I expected. I thought it would pretty much ignore the battery except the odd bit of regen during coasting and breaking, but it seems more like a compromise between HYBRID and CHARGE.


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[Dodgy]

I think, from watching mine, that on the flat and downhill the system disengages the ICE whenever it can and uses the electric motor as a regeneration generator. You should probably see the green recovery leds light up(not totally sure on this but I'll look next time out).

Did a nearly 600 mile round trip on Saturday using a mix of Hybrid and E-Save with an average mpg of just under 45mpg.


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I'm watching the energy flow and economy screens. Energy flow is clearly to the battery on the flat or downhill. I think HYBRID will switch the ICE off much more frequently than E-SAVE.

It's all very complicated, but charging the battery from the ICE is daft except in certain circumstances, so E-SAVE probably shouldn't do it.


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[350e]

Isn’t it the case that if a level of charge is required to be saved then E-Save is the correct mode. However because ancillary power consumption is occurring all the time, HVAC, Lights, Radio etc, it is inevitable that the ICE will be needed to ensure the desired battery level is maintained ?

 

[CaptainChaos]

I think HYBRID will switch the ICE off much more frequently than E-SAVE.

Yes, agreed. As mentioned above that's why I use E-SAVE for my journey home as I know I will want the battery power later in the journey.

It's all very complicated, but charging the battery from the ICE is daft except in certain circumstances, so E-SAVE probably shouldn't do it.

Agreed again. I'm surprised at the way yours is behaving, but I don't do enough long journeys to replicate it.

 

[Dodgy]

Isn’t it the case that if a level of charge is required to be saved then E-Save is the correct mode. However because ancillary power consumption is occurring all the time, HVAC, Lights, Radio etc, it is inevitable that the ICE will be needed to ensure the desired battery level is maintained ?

Do you think it's as simple as the car is overestimating the amount of power the 24V battery needs from the high voltage battery to run the ancillaries? So the HVB charge level keeps creeping up...

That might explain it.


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[350e]

Do you think it's as simple as the car is overestimating the amount of power the 24V battery needs from the high voltage battery to run the ancillaries? So the HVB charge level keeps creeping up...

That might explain it.


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I think that the Battery Management System will prioritise the ICE and ancillaries and if the main battery is set to Save then it follows that at some point the ICE will be used to maintain the chosen level.
On a cold day stopped in traffic with no energy being harvested the HVAC alone would suck energy from the main battery at very high rate.

 

[350e]

Free Chargemaster for two years

Just switched energy supplier from Ecotricity to OVO.
Did the sums and I save on both electricity and gas.
Not a huge amount, about £50 per year, but the real bargain is that OVO will pay my present membership fees to Chargemaster for two years, that’s nearly £100 per year.

 

[TheCorm]

I've noticed that my electric range has dropped noticeably now, not just because of the cold weather.

I am seeing an electric range of 10-11 miles displaying most days and I have noted that a full charge from 10-15% to 100% on our Pod Point charges at work is pulling around 3.9kwh these days when it used to pull 4.7kwh last year. My colleagues c350e is still getting around 14 miles displaying and pulling the 4.7kwh still. Feels like my battery pack has developed an issue.

I have booked it in at the dealership for next Thursday, I am concerned about how they are going to diagnose it, I am waiting as this feels like I can push for an answer more.

I am hoping they don't just put it down to normal degredation through charging as that's a 20% drop in under 18 months, at that rate the cars electric side would be pretty useless at 5 years old!

 

[Dodgy]

I've noticed that my electric range has dropped noticeably now, not just because of the cold weather.

I am seeing an electric range of 10-11 miles displaying most days and I have noted that a full charge from 10-15% to 100% on our Pod Point charges at work is pulling around 3.9kwh these days when it used to pull 4.7kwh last year. My colleagues c350e is still getting around 14 miles displaying and pulling the 4.7kwh still. Feels like my battery pack has developed an issue.

I have booked it in at the dealership for next Thursday, I am concerned about how they are going to diagnose it, I am waiting as this feels like I can push for an answer more.

I am hoping they don't just put it down to normal degredation through charging as that's a 20% drop in under 18 months, at that rate the cars electric side would be pretty useless at 5 years old!

Let's hope it's a fault they can fix.

I've discussed our battery with engineers who are convinced that Mercedes are asking the battery to do too much - regular cycles from 100% to 10% will kill cells quite quickly. Some other vehicles use a maximum of 60%-ish of the battery capacity which should in theory improve longevity.

I have no idea whether it's true - I haven't noticed a difference in my battery capacity yet, although I don't monitor how much it draws - all I have to go on is the actual electric range.


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[TheCorm]

Let's hope it's a fault they can fix.

I've discussed our battery with engineers who are convinced that Mercedes are asking the battery to do too much - regular cycles from 100% to 10% will kill cells quite quickly. Some other vehicles use a maximum of 60%-ish of the battery capacity which should in theory improve longevity.

I have no idea whether it's true - I haven't noticed a difference in my battery capacity yet, although I don't monitor how much it draws - all I have to go on is the actual electric range.


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I charge 1-2 times a day so have definitely done a lot of charging, I was kind of expecting this level of drop maybe by the end of my 3 years rather than half way through.....

 

[Dodgy]

I charge 1-2 times a day so have definitely done a lot of charging, I was kind of expecting this level of drop maybe by the end of my 3 years rather than half way through.....

I hear that Tesla batteries drop 10% quite quickly, but stabilise and drop very slowly from that point onwards.

Maybe the decline in yours will also slow down, but any drop is a pain when the battery is small to begin with.


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[350e]

I have had an email from Mercedes customer services telling me that arrangements are being made for my battery performance to be examined.

I pointed out that on the Mercedes website the claim is made that the 350e has a range of 31km(around 19 miles) and for that to be achieved it follows that the battery when fully charged should show a similar range.
Mine has never done so. The most I can achieve today is 14 miles.
I accept that the range of 31km is probably only possible under the most extraordinary conditions, no HVAC, or any other optional electrical drain such as radio etc. My panoramic roof will cost heavily and no doubt my overweight body will cost me more than a shortened lifespan but not being given a chance of achieving the same as claimed by Mercedes is surely a concern for all.

 

[JAT350e]

Hi,

I was driving on the M40 yesterday in stop start traffic. Somehow it was showing 3 miles Electric range after 70 miles (Did not charge all day) but E-Mode was etched out and the engine would not cutout at all even when stopped.

Anyone have that issue before?

 

[TheCorm]

Hi,

I was driving on the M40 yesterday in stop start traffic. Somehow it was showing 3 miles Electric range after 70 miles (Did not charge all day) but E-Mode was etched out and the engine would not cutout at all even when stopped.

Anyone have that issue before?

Yeah had it a couple of times, sometimes turning off and on sorts, sometimes not, haven't had it for a while.