The New Mercedes-Benz CLA Aims For Lucid-Beating Efficiency

Mercedes claims the CLA can achieve 5.2 miles per kWh, beating the Lucid Air to become the most efficient EV on sale.

Mercedes-Benz CLA Class

Photo by: Mercedes-Benz

Kevin Williams

By: Kevin Williams

Nov 17, 2024 at 6:01pm ET

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The Mercedes-Benz MMA platform can handle both EV and Hybrid powertrains.
The CLA-Class will be the first model on this platform, but two crossovers are expected to join the range shortly after its launch.
At 5.2 miles per kWh, the CLA-class could be the most efficient EV to go on sale. It bests 5.0 miles per kWh achieved by the current leader, the Lucid Air.

In the never-ending quest for more range from an electric vehicle, we often forget what it takes to actually pull that off. Sure, it’s not so hard to find any number of EVs on the market that can do well over 300 miles on a single charge, but let’s not pretend that they’re using the same energy to go that far. A GMC Hummer EV will literally use nearly three times the energy to go 100 miles fewer than a car like the Lucid Air Pure.

Not ideal, since in theory, EVs are meant to use less—maximizing our energy production to drive more efficiently.

Mercedes-Benz CLA Class

Photo by: Mercedes-Benz

Thankfully, Mercedes-Benz got the memo with the new CLA-Class sedan. The wraps aren’t officially off the car’s body yet, but the brand has shared some key information about the CLA’s efficiency. If Mercedes-Benz’s claims hold up, then the CLA could be the most efficient EV on sale, achieving a whopping 5.2 miles per kWh. That bests the Lucid Air’s 5.0 miles per kWh.

This is notable for a few reasons. For starters, the CLA isn’t technically on an EV-only platform. It’s the model on Mercedes-Benz’s new modular architecture called MMA, which can handle both EV and hybrid powertrains. This is spectacular since generally speaking platforms that can handle ICE and EV often end up with compromised versions of one or the other. Here, it seems like Mercedes-Benz has done the unthinkable, and created a platform that excels at both. The automaker opened a huge research and development campus dedicated to battery and cell development in Stuttgart; it aims to eventually reduce battery costs by up to 30% for its future EV models.

Mercedes CLA Concept 2023

Of course, all of the images we’ve received are staged spy photos and engineering cross-sections of the MMA platform’s components. Still, it looks like the production CLA’s proportions will stay fairly true to the concept we saw last year.

The platform itself runs the gamut of high-tech EV advancements. It uses a skateboard-style modular chassis that can be altered for different models. It has an 800-volt electrical architecture, with a promised DC fast charging time of adding 186 miles of range in as little as 10 minutes. Power will come from a 268 horsepower motor on the rear axle, with another 108 horsepower on the front for 4MATIC AWD models. Mercedes-Benz itself developed these motors, they’re not off-the-shelf units from some other EV motor manufacturer. On launch, the CLA will be equipped with an 85 kWh battery.

Mercedes-Benz CLA Class

Photo by: Mercedes-Benz

The hybrid models will feature Mercedes-Benz’s new ICE FAME engines mated to an eight-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission that has an integrated electric motor. This 48-volt hybrid setup will be able to do some engine-off full EV driving, thanks to its 1.3 kWh traction battery.

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This news and technical accomplishments were sent over from Mercedes-Benz via a 20-page long press release, explaining all the testing it has done to make the new CLA-Class so efficient. This car and this platform are a very, very big deal for the automaker; after a good deal of setbacks and slow sales for its controversial EQ-Class EVs, this shows that the Silver Arrow is far from done chasing a high-tech electric future.

The CLA-Class is expected to be released for the 2026 model year, and Mercedes-Benz says two more SUVs that use the same platform are expected to follow up shortly after the CLA’s release.

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