- The Mercedes-Benz CLA EV set a new endurance record for close-to-production electric cars.
- A prototype of the upcoming battery-powered sedan drove 2,309 miles in 24 hours.
- The previous record was set in 2019 by a Porsche Taycan.
The upcoming Mercedes-Benz CLA all-electric sedan is shaping up to be one of the most important battery-powered cars in recent history. The German automaker went above and beyond with its approach to efficiency and it shows.
With a claimed energy efficiency of up to 5.2 miles/kilowatt-hour, the brand-new CLA EV has the potential to topple the Lucid Air–which has a claimed efficiency of 5 miles/kWh–as the world’s most efficient EV. It also packs all the latest tech, including 800-volt charging and a two-speed transmission, making it even more of a conversation starter.
But a bunch of numbers on a sheet of paper don’t mean much if the claims don’t hold water in the real world. That’s why Mercedes-Benz put two CLA EV prototypes to the test on the famed Nardo high-speed track in southern Italy.
The result? A new endurance world record.
One of the prototypes covered 2,309 miles in 24 hours, topping the previous record set in 2019 when a Porsche Taycan drove 2,128 miles in 24 hours. This includes charging stops, of course. Thanks to its 800-volt traction battery and 320-kilowatt maximum charging rate, the CLA EV prototype needed to stop 40 times to recharge its battery.
Each stop took around 10 minutes, which is enough to get the car’s state of charge from 10% to 50%. That’s the equivalent of 186 miles or about 36 kilowatt-hours (the battery pack can hold 85 kWh). Adding everything together, the car was stopped for a total of six hours and 40 minutes to recharge. The average speed was 96.2 miles per hour–including charging stops–and the car’s 130 mph top speed was reached during the session.
Gallery: Mercedes-Benz CLA Class
The distance covered by the record-breaking prototype is nearly the same as the distance between Los Angeles and Cleveland.
The record-setting CLA prototype, which Mercedes-Benz claims is a close-to-production unit, started the 24-hour run with a full battery. During the endurance test, the engineering team closely monitored the ambient temperature and wind conditions to alter the charging strategy in real-time. The air temperature ranged from 55.4 degrees Fahrenheit at night to 84.2 degrees during the day.
Six drivers were part of the effort–three for each of the prototypes–with three shift changes. That’s eight hours of driving for each of the drivers. The record-setting CLA EV was a rear-wheel drive version with a single, 268-horsepower motor that works in conjunction with a two-speed transmission. The road-going Mercedes-Benz CLA EV is due in late 2025 as a 2026 model.
