Page 75 - SHARP Summer 2024

LIGHTNING STRIKES
THE ELECTRIC G-CLASS IS REAL, WE’VE DRIVEN IT, AND IT’S SPECTACULAR
By Matt Bubbers
T HERE WERE SLEEPLESS NIGHTS, UNPRINTABLE GERMAN
expletives, mud, sweat, and tears as the engineers at Mercedes-Benz worked to electrify the G-Class. It wasn’t an easy project. After all, a high-tech, battery-powered version of the world’s most iconic, old-school SUV is a concept as incongruous as a cheap Rolex, or diet pizza. It sounds wrong, impossible — perhaps even heretical. And yet here we are, in the south of France, absolutely thrashing the first electric G-Class up a wet hillside, careening over jagged rocks, crashing through ponds, and doing 720-degree pirouettes in muddy fields.
Wait, pirouettes? Yes, the first all-electric G-Class has some extraordinary party tricks, thanks to its four electric motors and four gearboxes, one at each wheel. Press a few buttons on the dashboard to shift all four gearboxes into low-range, and this three-ton behemoth will spin on the spot like a ballerina. They call this the “G-Turn,” and it’s violent, dizzying, and also kind of addictive. The truck’s other trick is “G-Steering.” Activate that, and the 4x4 will drift in slow motion around incredibly tight corners that would otherwise require shifting into reverse and pulling a multi-point turn. Both
DRIVES
features are intended for off-road use only, but we suspect you may spot electric G-Classes pirouetting in your local mall’s parking lot after hours.
Anything the gas-burning version of the G-Class can do, the electric one can do better. It can wade through deeper water — up to 850 millimetres — because electric motors don’t breathe air. Compared to the V8 in the AMG G 63, the quad-motor electric drivetrain responds faster. The ingenious torque-vectoring enabled by the quad-motor setup also makes the electric G feel more agile on twisty roads than the fuel-burning G 550. It all feels rather natural, as if battery power and the G-Class were made for each other. In fact, we’d go as far to say that the electric G-Class is the best model to bear the nameplate in the G’s illustrious 45-year history. Because, in addition to everything else, this one doesn’t come with any gas-guzzling guilt.
After thoroughly testing out the truck’s new party tricks and sending it up and over some truly brutal trails, every inch of our G-Class is caked in mud. But the battery? Still reading more than half full. (On the albeit overly optimistic European WLTP test, driving range is rated at 473 km.)
The only thing the team behind this car didn’t quite slam-dunk is the name: the 2025 Mercedes-Benz G 580 with EQ Technology. It hardly rolls off the tongue, does it? Still, the electric G-Class should be in Canadian dealerships later this year and we’d bet there’s already a long wait-list for what will likely be the hottest status-SUV of 2024.
SPECS
ENGINE: QUAD-MOTOR ELECTRIC POWER: 579 HP
RANGE: 473 KM (WLTP)
PRICE: TBD
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