I’ve had this exact same car since 2018, model year 2015. Super nice to drive, zero issues for the last 100k miles, extremely low use costs. Considering it’s 7 years old, it’s amazing that the battery is still at full capacity. But here’s a secret, it has a Tesla engine and battery, as MB didn’t have their own tech available when this car was unveiled. I recently gave it to my wife to replace our 2015 Leaf, which started to show it’s age.
Hi, thanks for taking the time to comment and I agree, it was a very pleasant car to drive. I am surprised that you haven't suffered with the coolant seal failure at that mileage but great for you that it hasn't happened. I mention the Tesla connection in the video and I recall showing the stickers under the bonnet showing the name, unless that bit got lost in the edit....
I actually think this is a bit of an overlooked EV and can represent a great buy for some people. This is now quite an old car and certainly the range is totally inadequate by modern standards - especially because Mercedes Benz strangely never gave it a rapid charging capability. But as a second car for use on the school run, trips to the supermarket or just running around locally it can be an outstanding used car buy compared with other EV’s of the same age. High quality and roomy there is nothing quite like it.
Thanks Richard for your comment and watching the video. I agree that as a second car it makes a lot of sense, but for me they are still too expensive for that, although that will change in time, obviously. My understanding is that it didn't get rapid charging is because it would have meant a modification to the bodywork to accommodate the additional charging port, something that Mercedes didn't want to do.
If you are using it for short trips only, then it dosnt make sense financially. These are $20k used. Thats allot of money for a grocery getter that you have to pay for insurance and registration.
It's a Frankenstein car which will not be supported by either Tesla OR Mercedes once warranty is up. Apparently problems with Tesla Motor Coolant Seals and bad Bearings = $$$$
Thanks for the review. I have a '17 I purchased off lease last year. It has been outstanding for day to day commute to work and a myriad of errands. It is a great alternative to driving my offroad built Jeep Wrangler. I am able to quick charge it on heavy use days (2 hours) in my garage using our Tesla Model S portable charging cord with my J1772 connector cable. Large cabin area good for my tall frame and all the safety bells and whistles. Love the perky torque of the electric drive train. Will be a great daily driver for me for the years ahead. I will never go back to gas or diesel for my primary vehicle.
Hi Dwain, thanks for the comment and I'm glad to hear that you are enjoying your B250e. I liked ours and was sad to see it go and would happily have another in the future. I hope you have may happy miles in yours.
I have owned my B250e for 2 years. I can forgive its poor range and slow charging for the comfort of the drive, cruise control and brilliant regen. I often look at the new generation of EV’s but the luxury and style of the 250e still turns heads.....and of course surprises many as you silently sneak up on them. Thank you for the in depth video, a fair review of this EV that Mercedes tried to forget!
Thanks for taking the time to watch the video and leave a comment Paul and I'm glad you found it fair. As I said in the video, I've enjoyed finding out more about EVs and I think the B250e is a good platform for one. It's a shame it isn't as well known and/or didn't sell well as I think it would suit a lot of people.
@@mxyfn If you have a 7kWh charger fitted it should take around 4 hours to charge from empty.....you are likely to have around 20% battery remaining each day which will reduce the charge time.
I have one right now and it’s perfect Vegas car as the city end to end is about 25 miles. It’s the best short range car and I don’t plan to get rid of it as it’s the cheapest Tesla to own. lol, same with Rav4 ev. Company in California can retrofit a fast charger so i might go with that option in the future… also when i look at the boot items from this video the US spec looks way different. Whats that yellow cup holder thing next to the air compressor?
Thanks for this review. It helps to know what a long-term owner thinks. I'm looking at one here in Texas, and I really love it. I test drove it yesterday. I think I had the most fun with the turn radius! The range constraints aren't a concern for me (at this time) since we have another vehicle. I'm excited to own my first Benz, after going without a car since July (stupid pandemic caused me to not need a car at all, so to save money, we sold our BMW x1). Anyway, thanks again!
HI Liz, no problem and thanks for taking the time to leave me a comment. I see you've already joined the B250e Group on Facebook which is a good source of information too. I hope you have lots of happy miles in it.
Hello James, it’s charlie here from my friends RUclips account, I wanted to say that I liked the constant flow of information that you gave and even for a 16 year old, it was engaging and kept my attention! :) mic quality was great also !
Thanks for the review! I’m currently looking to get one of these in the US and this video was very helpful. The car is certainly not for everyone, but I personally think the sacrifices of range and charging are worth it for me. Thanks for creating it! Additionally, I can get one used for just around $15,000, so it is hard to resist for me
Thanks for watching the video and leaving a comment. I hope you find one that you like. For what it's worth I prefer the wheel design that it came with in the USA (the silver, flush look) and along with the side reflectors I think they look great.
As someone living in Europe, owning multiple electric cars over the time, i can’t agree. Even my old car had 50kw fast charging and 200-250km (depends on the speed you drive) of highway range, cruising trough Europe wasn’t a problem at all. My new car (which charges more than twice as fast an has nearly doubled the range) is absolutely perfect for vacations. And the best part is i never need to stop at a gas station around home, its cooled in the summer and heated in the winter when i get in (like my old car)…if this particular model doesn’t do what you need from it, it simply might be the wrong car for you 😉🙂 (PS: it’s a stunning looking car, if it had at least 50kw fast charging i would have considered it back then, especially because i like Mercedes very much)
Firstly thanks for watching the video. Secondly comparing your cars to this car is moot. You've seen the video and so you know this was a review about this car's failings which are its small range and lack of fast charging in relation to its high purchase price. When they are £5k/€5k and everyone can run them as 2nd/3rd cars that won't be so much of an issue. I stand by my point that EVs aren't any fun though. They are great cars to do the daily grind in but despite having driven many more since that video I have yet to ever get a giggle out of them. And I hate being a passenger in any kind of Tesla because people always try to prove how fast they are which only serves to make me feel sick. Conversely I drove an MG ZR 160 recently and I was grinning after 500m because it was just honest brilliant fun.
@@MostlyHelpful Hey, I didn't want to change your mind! I just don't aggree that there aren't any good EVs for longer trips with the same age. The mercedes is a great car for trips around town - i think you knew what you bought, and that's absolutly fine :-) - I personally was very sceptical about EVs for many years. But since I bought one (the first one was an Volkswagen Golf) I changed completely. No V8 has the smooth running of an EV, and no ICE car has the instant torque. Did I sell my dinojuice Burners now? Absolutly not. But they are more of a weekend thing or for special occations, the EVs are for daily use. And since we all have to transition to them into the near(ish) future its a good thing they are good cars, don't you think? I like your stile of videos, hope to see more in the future! 🙂
Thanks for the review. Looking for b250e as a second car for my family with avg 30 miles per day. Looks like it will perfectly suit my needs. But as it’s definitely rare and not new I’m aware of maintenance and availability of spare parts.
Hi and thanks for watching my video. The B250e is a great EV choice if the range isn't an issue and it makes for a much nicer car to drive than a 1st gen Nissan Leaf.
There is a company in San Diego, California that offers a DC Fast Charge upgrade for this car called Quick Charge Power. I don't think its cheap but probably worth it if someone intends to use it as their only car.
The short range is definitely a constraint, I'm glad you posted the video as I'm looking at a 2015 with over 40k miles on it for close to $20k U.S. / helpful video, thanks
Thanks for this Drew. I had heard of this coolant leak issue and there's a few UK cars that have been affected. It's a shame to hear though as it must wipe out a lot of the cost savings of going EV if/when it happens.
It’s such a shame that it doesn’t have fast charging. The limited range is fine for me on a day to day basis, but I need the fast charging feature for the occasional longer trips I take. I ended up getting a VW e-Golf instead, it may not be quite as comfortable but DC fast charging is the only way a 100 mile range car can be practical for me. Thanks for the honest review.
Hi Myles, thanks for watching and your comment. We test drove an e-Golf before the Mercedes and I'd say that it was more comfortable in terms of ride quality and the seats seemed similarly supportive so I think you are actually better off comfort wise. We discounted it as we simply couldn't find one with leather seats at the time and my wife also wanted an elevated driving position, so we went for the Mercedes instead. In hindsight a Golf would have been more suitable I am sure.
Great review mate, I bought 2017 during the Summer of 2020, loved the car hated the range, sold it & regret it. You were right this is a great second around town car. Robert from "Fully Charged" put it; "This is a proper Mercedes-Benz" I would have to agree with that statement. I also owned a 2017 Chevy Bolt, the front seats were too narrow & not much back support, sold it. Hope to purchase another one of these beauties, once COVID dries up & overtime is available again, Cheers!
Hi and thanks for taking time to watch the video and commenting. I agree that it's a real shame about the range - if it could do 200 miles it would be all the car anybody needs.
Same for me. I have an Instagram page called @forgottenUKcars where I show cars that are unloved or forgotten in the UK and it was posting about a B250e that made me realise it might be a good car for us to try.
Great thorough review. Thank you for taking the time to produce the video. I bought one recently (UK) and love it! The smooth, silent quality drive is effortless, EV's are much less fatiguing than ICE vehicles! A couple of points to add for the benefit of others prospective buyers. If turning the key is a weird concept (I agree) look for one which has the keyless go (stop/start button) option, with the added benefit of keyless entry too. The charging flap opening is an issue which has been a topic on the EV forums. The latch motor mechanism works intermittantly and can become problematic. This could be due to moisture entering into the motor. If it ever sticks and you are stuck then there is an emergency failsafe to open it from within the vehicle. To do this you would need to remove the rear light cluster. Move the insulation out of the way to access the red lever which is on the motor mechanism. Simply semi-turn the lever as you would a key and it will activate the latch opener. A new motor mechanism from Mercedes is around £35. It is VERY easy to change over and, takes just 2 minutes with very little skill. You just need a small flat head screwdriver to pry the 2 bottom lugs slightly just enough to release it. These lugs secure it in place. Simply pull it out, unplug the wiring harness and switch it with the new one. As a second vehicle it is ideal for us and a great quality car, deceptively large and a capable family car.
Hi Tankmania3, thanks for watching the video and taking time to leave a comment. I'm glad you love yours and in years to come I think these cars are going to become quite desirable as a well made relatively inexpensive EV. Happy motoring!
Hi Arjun, thanks for watching my video. Yes, the limited range is a real deal breaker for a lot of folks considering EVs. Once it gets reliably to 250 miles on a charge I think we will reconsider one again.
I’m looking at a used one, 2016 for my daily commute of 60 miles per day. How long does it take to fully charge? I have an extra car, but could this get fully charged over night in my garage?
Hi, thanks for watching the video. 60 miles should be fine as long as it isn't really cold and/or there aren't lots of hills. To fully charge from a dedicated wall charger is 9-10 hours because it can't take more than a 3.6kw input, unless you have a 3 phase supply. We always used the granny charger, so that was slower still but it was never an issue.
Thanks for watching the video and taking the time to comment. It's a shame because there are many things to like about the B250e - in years to come hopefully those that are left can be retrofitted with a longer range battery and better charging capability.
Thanks for the suggestion, and yes, I think it would. We are also looking at a Lexus NX300h which gives the elevated driving position my wife wants and is also a hybrid.
I don't think there is the equivalent of Leaf Spy for checking battery status. However I recall reading that there was 10-15% headroom built in to the battery so it would take a lot of degradation to see a dip in range. I think this was because it was a 36KW pack, but only 31kw was available to use (with the range extender) or something like that.
This B Class electric car appears to be a prototype for Mercedes unfortunately Mercedes did follow up its advancement with electric cars soon after this B class and missed a massive opportunity and trick, unllike Tesla whom believe in the electric cars change and their continuous advancement for electric powered cars for the future. I did end up getting a Tesla 3 in March 2021, a first time fully built in China for Tesla, as replacement for my E Class which I bought from new. A very high quality electric vehicle giving 280-300mile range which is excellent and my key is my iPhone! I swapped to a Tesla as its environmentally friendly and Mercedes have been very slow and could not offer anything suitable for the electric powered car change which is inevitable. Your review and sum up for this B Class is very good and to the point.
Hi Max, thanks for your comments and your kind words. It's great to hear that you love your Tesla and yes, I agree, Mercedes should have stuck with it. The new EQS looks like they are back on track though. Safe travels!
You said in your video that you paid for a service plan. Approx £16 per month? How did you get the plan, as I am having difficulty setting one up on the Mercedes-Benz website, says that my registration number/car model not recognised.
I arranged it in person when I visited the dealer to book it in for a service. I am not sure it's worth it though as there's hardly anything for them to do. The desiccant cartridge should be replaced for free (according to the service guide) so it's only brake fluid and a visual check over that you should be paying for.
I have been thinking about an EV as a second car for a little while now, due to my wife doing a lot of under five mile trips with the kids and dogs. With having the dogs it would have to have good boot space. Your review was exactly the information I was looking for regarding the B250 E. Excellent review. I will seriously consider one, to save the Q 7 doing short stop start trips, which been honest, a Q 7 isn't designed for. Excellent review. Oh, one question, do you know what is the expected life of the batteries, before needing changed? and if they did what kind of costs? thanks again for an excellent review.
Hi Ronan, thanks for watching the video and leaving a comment. I think a B250e will make a great 2nd car for running alongside a Q7. We moved from a Q5 to this as you saw in the video and there was always plenty of space. Assuming you are in the UK the battery pack is warrantied for 8 years so hopefully you won't need to worry about replacement. I've no idea what it would cost, but I understand a few in the USA have had theirs replaced. I suspect it would be more than the car is worth, sadly.
I have read articles calculating that the (Tesla) batteries in the B250e are expected to last for 30 years or 500,000 miles. We have a 2015 and a 2017. The '15 is six years old now and still fully charges in 3 hours on 240v/40a.
Great and clear review of usage of a compliance EV. Loved the shocking point that your wife will go back to a petrol car for the next nine years. i wonder if the government will make that same conclusion?
Thanks for watching the video Nigel and for taking the time to comment. We'll have an EV again I am sure, but this one had too many limitations for us.
I’ve had onoenow for 4 years, 50K done. The only car I’ve had that has stopped on me 3 times. Replaced of drive unit, replaced onboard charger og heater. Cost of parts alone was more than the cost of the car when purchased. First and last Merc.
Sadly I fear this will the story of EVs going forward. Much cheaper to run and maintain but when they break down they do it properly and it costs a fortune to fix. I miss this car though and I wish I/mywife had kept it a little longer.
thank you for this. interesting view, obviously you couldn't expect for this car to be what is not. how do you find the bmw i3 for comparison? for around city this car should be fantastic. how was the quality of the materials? finishes?
Hi George, thanks for watching the video. I like the i3, but the rear door arrangement does not suit us as a family with two young children as it's a bit a of nuisance for daily use. This s a shame because it would be a great option for all our local journeys. However the ride on the one I have driven wasn't very compliant though, which is typical of modern BMWs I find. And in the UK at least they are still expensive and the cheapest one right now is £11,500 and it has 96k miles.
@@MostlyHelpful some might find the rear door arrangement as an advantage for a family with two young children as they couldn't accidentally open the rear doors. how did you find the materials and finishes on the e250 electric drive ?
Hi George, with the child locks enabled the rear doors can't be opened on our cars so that's never been a problem for me. The material and finish on the B250e was really really nice actually and certainly felt every bit as good as my C-Class. It's one of the things that really appealed about it because being a Mercedes it's a well built well finished product, so I would have no concerns there. Compared to the i3 I'd say the materials are better but the design is more conservative.
We have an i3 and we have 3 kids. Our youngest is still in a car seat. Yes it takes extra time with the rear door, but honestly we LOVE it and we use the car every single day! The doors are not a deal breaker by any means for us. We are just now looking for something else , a tad bigger. 😃
@@theADHDinfj the offer on the market now is way more diverse than it was when the mercedes or the i3 were launched. make sure to buy yourself a device to measure the EMF or EMR for radiations emitted by the electric system ( batteries). it would be sin for you or your children to get cancer because of the raditations emitted by these electric cars! here is one of the links ruclips.net/video/o5yOKN-12P4/видео.html here is 2nd.... ruclips.net/video/mdFpQAEfZ30/видео.html and so on... you can fiind it on youtube if you want it to...
@@MostlyHelpful it’s listed in the spanish market. I have heard that last b250 units were sold by 23-24k€ because of their selling failure… so I’m pretty sure that owner is not going to lose too much but imo it’s good price too… even in spain. Thanks again for your review, I have completely felt reflected on your words about possible ev uses (close work, supermarket, kids…) … let’s see if I go ahead
There is no way to extend the range, unfortunately. There was somebody working on a fast charge solution in the USA (with a port under the bonnet) and I know a few cars were converted, but certainly there's nothing that is manufacturer approved.
Yes, it's exactly the same boot size as an ICE powered B Class. The rear seat passengers have a shallower footwell, so that seems to be where they've taken the space for the batteries.
Hi Simon, thanks for watching the video. The UK doesn't get that hot as you probably know, but I didn't think that the AC was strong enough for our climate, let alone the Caribbean. But then a model in your territory probably runs a bigger compressor than it would for Euro spec cars. What I also noticed is that if you put a window down, say when ordering at a drive-thru, it would cut the AC. This happened on any window too, not just the front ones.
@@MostlyHelpful Thanks for the reply! That does not sound very hopeful, we need something that can deal with the 35 degrees around noon. Will continue my search for an EV that can deal with Caribbean roads and temps ;)
I think the range extender works by letting you run the battery flat in an emergency, ie you run out of power and are still several miles from home, or a charging station. Running a battery flat on a regular basis is not good for the battery, leaving 20% extends the battery life. A regular Tesla battery pack is 5kw so maybe uses 6 of them. From memory they are about a metre long, about 300mm wide and about 50mm thick. Be interesting to see under the car.
I no longer have the car, so I can't test it, but on the UK cars there is no hidden reserve of power. When the GOM tells you it's empty, it is empty. The range extender functionality allowed you to more fully charge the battery on the occasions when you needed the extra range. They did it this way because, at the time, it wasn't clear what the degradation profile would be from constantly charging a battery to full. But it has great thermal battery management so it's actually a bit pointless and in an ideal world you wouldn't need to press a button to get it to charge to its full capacity. Under the car was a completely flat undertray and the only thing visible was a small trap door where you could find the desiccant drying pack.
Hi Pawel, thanks for watching my video. It is a massive oversight I agree, but in the future when on street chargers are ubiquitous I think people will really begin to appreciate how good a B250e is. Until then it remains a compromised choice.
In years to come I think it will appreciated for what it is, that being a nice, well made urban run-around. Currently they are too expensive for that for most people, but in that role the lack of fast charging won't be an issue and the other benefits will shine through.
I like the 500e although I having had 2 Fiats I would be nervous about the fact that the door release both inside and out is electrically actuated. And we all know wat Fiat electrics are like...
@@MostlyHelpful thank you, I didn't know that about the Fiat, I have also learned that the B250e has been know to have coolant leaks into the motor, I am looking into one near by and plan to get a PPI before buying
Let me summarize your situation: you like the ride of high end luxury cars, shifting gears, noisy engines and don't care about acceleration. Your wife wants 100+ miles of range. Mmmm, why did you EVER think you would be happy with the B250e? While all your comments are factual and I really appreciate any attention shown to this forgotten EV I feel a tone of overall disappointment comes through. The slightest amount of research would have saved you this one year detour from your blissful gas car life. As for me this is one of the best cars I've ever owned. It is a second car to my wife's longer range EV, so that helps. 85 miles has been more than enough range for 95% of my driving. As I said, I do appreciate your review and apologize for the seeming harsh tone of my comments. Perhaps this was a voyage of discovery for you and it took time to know what you wanted in a car.
Hi, thanks for stopping by. This video was early on in my RUclips "career" and so these days I would be more succinct. But I think you've partly misinterpreted what I said because some of that was related to EVs in general and some of it was related to the B250e. Specifically, while researching EVs in general at the time almost everybody would say that they were fun to drive. I don't find the ones I have driven fun (which to be transparent is a 1st Gen Leaf, a B250e, a Hyundai Ioniq and a Skoda Enyaq) because once you've done a few acceleration runs, they aren't. I don't know what people find fun about them to be honest, but they do make great city cars and/or cars where you drive a lot in traffic. The B250e falls down in this category though because the ride is needlessly firm and as mentioned in the video a very much cheaper VW Golf rides very much better. Do also bear in mind the the UK has appalling road conditions, yet the UK buying public like big alloy wheels and stiff suspension. I don't know why and in all honest it's idiotic, but it's how cars are sold here and so it is hard to escape. I suspect a B250e on 16" rims would ride considerably better and I think that's how they came in the USA. The range thing we knew about and we thought it wouldn't be a problem and 90% of the time it wasn't. But it seemed that there wasn't a month when either my wife or I had an issue with the range or the charging. It isn't helped by the strange decision of Mercedes to not allow consumers to fully charge the battery without an input from them, in this case to activate the range extender. So there was a scenario where I had forgotten to do that so instead of 100 miles I had 80 available Then it was both cold and raining and so having done a journey on the motorway of 34 miles the GOM was telling me I only had 29 miles left. So I charged on the way home, but because it doesn't do fast charging it took a while, and that was after visiting two other chargers that were both broken. All of these limitations I knew about but what I hadn't realised was how travelling at our motorway national speed limit (70mph) massively hampered the range. I think more modern EVs handle this better but on the B250e you could start with 100 miles, and after driving 50 miles at motorway speed you'd have 20 miles left. That is just wrong in my opinion. Despite all of that I'd happily have another EV and in many way I'm looking forward to it but in the meantime my wife's new Mercedes GLC300 arrives next month and I think overall she will be happier but I am glad that the B250e works for you.
As rare as these are, it means there will be almost no way to get major repairs in 10 years. That is what happened to the toyota rav4 EV. Toyota will refuse to work on it
Sadly these do seem to be suffering fluid ingress in to the motor when one of the major seals fails. MB will want to swap in a new motor unit but thankfully, in the USA at least, there's good aftermarket support and the motor units can be repaired. Here in the UK no such service exists unfortunately so these have the potential to become very expensive very quickly. The rest of the car is standard B Class so no issue with parts or service there.
My car’s engine failed. Also something related to the coolant according to pre-death messages. Official asked $17k for a motor replacement. Non-official service asked $15k. Well, it’s not worth it. However if you say there is a good aftermarket support, I will keep looking. Hopefully, somebody can fix it for reasonable money.
17:30 *2035 For Hybrid Cars Hang on a bit - by then predict `100' Mile Battery Range with 3 Duracell AA Cells as back up to get you HOME What Else does your Wife Need ? !*
Please explain since this video is literally me talking about and driving the car & model in the video title, a B250e (EV). If instead you want to hear about the current B250e (Hybrid) then I very clearly explain that it doesn't cover that model within the first 60 seconds so it's not like I didn't warn you.
Хобби
I’ve had this exact same car since 2018, model year 2015. Super nice to drive, zero issues for the last 100k miles, extremely low use costs. Considering it’s 7 years old, it’s amazing that the battery is still at full capacity. But here’s a secret, it has a Tesla engine and battery, as MB didn’t have their own tech available when this car was unveiled.
I recently gave it to my wife to replace our 2015 Leaf, which started to show it’s age.
Hi, thanks for taking the time to comment and I agree, it was a very pleasant car to drive. I am surprised that you haven't suffered with the coolant seal failure at that mileage but great for you that it hasn't happened. I mention the Tesla connection in the video and I recall showing the stickers under the bonnet showing the name, unless that bit got lost in the edit....
I actually think this is a bit of an overlooked EV and can represent a great buy for some people. This is now quite an old car and certainly the range is totally inadequate by modern standards - especially because Mercedes Benz strangely never gave it a rapid charging capability. But as a second car for use on the school run, trips to the supermarket or just running around locally it can be an outstanding used car buy compared with other EV’s of the same age. High quality and roomy there is nothing quite like it.
Thanks Richard for your comment and watching the video. I agree that as a second car it makes a lot of sense, but for me they are still too expensive for that, although that will change in time, obviously. My understanding is that it didn't get rapid charging is because it would have meant a modification to the bodywork to accommodate the additional charging port, something that Mercedes didn't want to do.
If you are using it for short trips only, then it dosnt make sense financially. These are $20k used. Thats allot of money for a grocery getter that you have to pay for insurance and registration.
It's a Frankenstein car which will not be supported by either Tesla OR Mercedes once warranty is up.
Apparently problems with Tesla Motor Coolant Seals and bad Bearings = $$$$
@@rossr6616 now too old to be considered an option
@@rossr6616s
Thanks for the review. I have a '17 I purchased off lease last year. It has been outstanding for day to day commute to work and a myriad of errands. It is a great alternative to driving my offroad built Jeep Wrangler. I am able to quick charge it on heavy use days (2 hours) in my garage using our Tesla Model S portable charging cord with my J1772 connector cable. Large cabin area good for my tall frame and all the safety bells and whistles. Love the perky torque of the electric drive train. Will be a great daily driver for me for the years ahead. I will never go back to gas or diesel for my primary vehicle.
Hi Dwain, thanks for the comment and I'm glad to hear that you are enjoying your B250e. I liked ours and was sad to see it go and would happily have another in the future. I hope you have may happy miles in yours.
hi, do you have to fully charge it, or its possible just charge partialy like 1h, how much restores 1hour?
@@b.saulius3916 No you do not have to fully charge it. @240V it will add about 20 miles to range
I have owned my B250e for 2 years. I can forgive its poor range and slow charging for the comfort of the drive, cruise control and brilliant regen. I often look at the new generation of EV’s but the luxury and style of the 250e still turns heads.....and of course surprises many as you silently sneak up on them. Thank you for the in depth video, a fair review of this EV that Mercedes tried to forget!
Thanks for taking the time to watch the video and leave a comment Paul and I'm glad you found it fair. As I said in the video, I've enjoyed finding out more about EVs and I think the B250e is a good platform for one. It's a shame it isn't as well known and/or didn't sell well as I think it would suit a lot of people.
How long does it take to fully charge? I’m considering one for my daily commute of 60 miles per day.
@@mxyfn If you have a 7kWh charger fitted it should take around 4 hours to charge from empty.....you are likely to have around 20% battery remaining each day which will reduce the charge time.
I have one right now and it’s perfect Vegas car as the city end to end is about 25 miles. It’s the best short range car and I don’t plan to get rid of it as it’s the cheapest Tesla to own. lol, same with Rav4 ev. Company in California can retrofit a fast charger so i might go with that option in the future… also when i look at the boot items from this video the US spec looks way different. Whats that yellow cup holder thing next to the air compressor?
Thanks for this review. It helps to know what a long-term owner thinks. I'm looking at one here in Texas, and I really love it. I test drove it yesterday. I think I had the most fun with the turn radius! The range constraints aren't a concern for me (at this time) since we have another vehicle. I'm excited to own my first Benz, after going without a car since July (stupid pandemic caused me to not need a car at all, so to save money, we sold our BMW x1). Anyway, thanks again!
HI Liz, no problem and thanks for taking the time to leave me a comment. I see you've already joined the B250e Group on Facebook which is a good source of information too. I hope you have lots of happy miles in it.
Hello James, it’s charlie here from my friends RUclips account, I wanted to say that I liked the constant flow of information that you gave and even for a 16 year old, it was engaging and kept my attention! :) mic quality was great also !
Hi Charlie, thanks for your positive comments and I'm glad you liked it.
Great video, many thanks for such a balanced view. Great stuff 👏
Thanks Mike, glad you enjoyed it and I appreciate you taking the time to let me know.
Thanks for the review! I’m currently looking to get one of these in the US and this video was very helpful. The car is certainly not for everyone, but I personally think the sacrifices of range and charging are worth it for me. Thanks for creating it! Additionally, I can get one used for just around $15,000, so it is hard to resist for me
Thanks for watching the video and leaving a comment. I hope you find one that you like. For what it's worth I prefer the wheel design that it came with in the USA (the silver, flush look) and along with the side reflectors I think they look great.
Did you get one? I’m considering one now in the US for my 60 mile daily commute.
@@mxyfn still looking around
As someone living in Europe, owning multiple electric cars over the time, i can’t agree. Even my old car had 50kw fast charging and 200-250km (depends on the speed you drive) of highway range, cruising trough Europe wasn’t a problem at all. My new car (which charges more than twice as fast an has nearly doubled the range) is absolutely perfect for vacations. And the best part is i never need to stop at a gas station around home, its cooled in the summer and heated in the winter when i get in (like my old car)…if this particular model doesn’t do what you need from it, it simply might be the wrong car for you 😉🙂 (PS: it’s a stunning looking car, if it had at least 50kw fast charging i would have considered it back then, especially because i like Mercedes very much)
Firstly thanks for watching the video. Secondly comparing your cars to this car is moot. You've seen the video and so you know this was a review about this car's failings which are its small range and lack of fast charging in relation to its high purchase price. When they are £5k/€5k and everyone can run them as 2nd/3rd cars that won't be so much of an issue. I stand by my point that EVs aren't any fun though. They are great cars to do the daily grind in but despite having driven many more since that video I have yet to ever get a giggle out of them. And I hate being a passenger in any kind of Tesla because people always try to prove how fast they are which only serves to make me feel sick. Conversely I drove an MG ZR 160 recently and I was grinning after 500m because it was just honest brilliant fun.
@@MostlyHelpful Hey, I didn't want to change your mind! I just don't aggree that there aren't any good EVs for longer trips with the same age. The mercedes is a great car for trips around town - i think you knew what you bought, and that's absolutly fine :-) - I personally was very sceptical about EVs for many years. But since I bought one (the first one was an Volkswagen Golf) I changed completely. No V8 has the smooth running of an EV, and no ICE car has the instant torque. Did I sell my dinojuice Burners now? Absolutly not. But they are more of a weekend thing or for special occations, the EVs are for daily use. And since we all have to transition to them into the near(ish) future its a good thing they are good cars, don't you think?
I like your stile of videos, hope to see more in the future! 🙂
Thanks very formative special about the range
Hi Ed, thanks for taking the time to comment and glad you found it useful.
Thanks for the review. Looking for b250e as a second car for my family with avg 30 miles per day. Looks like it will perfectly suit my needs. But as it’s definitely rare and not new I’m aware of maintenance and availability of spare parts.
Hi and thanks for watching my video. The B250e is a great EV choice if the range isn't an issue and it makes for a much nicer car to drive than a 1st gen Nissan Leaf.
There is a company in San Diego, California that offers a DC Fast Charge upgrade for this car called Quick Charge Power. I don't think its cheap but probably worth it if someone intends to use it as their only car.
Thanks Brennan and I hope you are getting along with yours now you've had it a while.
how much it costs ?
@@b.saulius3916 unfortunately, the pricing doesn't appear to be on their website.
Thanks
Honest and informative
Hi Ralph, thanks for watching my video and I'm glad you found it useful.
The short range is definitely a constraint, I'm glad you posted the video as I'm looking at a 2015 with over 40k miles on it for close to $20k U.S. / helpful video, thanks
Thanks for this Drew. I had heard of this coolant leak issue and there's a few UK cars that have been affected. It's a shame to hear though as it must wipe out a lot of the cost savings of going EV if/when it happens.
Thanks for honest review.
Thank you - I miss driving this car despite its faults and hope to be back in an EV early next year.
It’s such a shame that it doesn’t have fast charging. The limited range is fine for me on a day to day basis, but I need the fast charging feature for the occasional longer trips I take. I ended up getting a VW e-Golf instead, it may not be quite as comfortable but DC fast charging is the only way a 100 mile range car can be practical for me. Thanks for the honest review.
Hi Myles, thanks for watching and your comment. We test drove an e-Golf before the Mercedes and I'd say that it was more comfortable in terms of ride quality and the seats seemed similarly supportive so I think you are actually better off comfort wise. We discounted it as we simply couldn't find one with leather seats at the time and my wife also wanted an elevated driving position, so we went for the Mercedes instead. In hindsight a Golf would have been more suitable I am sure.
Great review mate, I bought 2017 during the Summer of 2020, loved the car hated the range, sold it & regret it. You were right this is a great second around town car. Robert from "Fully Charged" put it; "This is a proper Mercedes-Benz" I would have to agree with that statement. I also owned a 2017 Chevy Bolt, the front seats were too narrow & not much back support, sold it. Hope to purchase another one of these beauties, once COVID dries up & overtime is available again, Cheers!
Hi and thanks for taking time to watch the video and commenting. I agree that it's a real shame about the range - if it could do 200 miles it would be all the car anybody needs.
I’m considering one for my daily commute of 60 miles. How long does it take to fully charge?
I saw one of these today in the USA. I didn't know about it.
Same for me. I have an Instagram page called @forgottenUKcars where I show cars that are unloved or forgotten in the UK and it was posting about a B250e that made me realise it might be a good car for us to try.
Great thorough review. Thank you for taking the time to produce the video. I bought one recently (UK) and love it!
The smooth, silent quality drive is effortless, EV's are much less fatiguing than ICE vehicles!
A couple of points to add for the benefit of others prospective buyers.
If turning the key is a weird concept (I agree) look for one which has the keyless go (stop/start button) option, with the added benefit of keyless entry too.
The charging flap opening is an issue which has been a topic on the EV forums. The latch motor mechanism works intermittantly and can become problematic. This could be due to moisture entering into the motor. If it ever sticks and you are stuck then there is an emergency failsafe to open it from within the vehicle. To do this you would need to remove the rear light cluster. Move the insulation out of the way to access the red lever which is on the motor mechanism. Simply semi-turn the lever as you would a key and it will activate the latch opener. A new motor mechanism from Mercedes is around £35. It is VERY easy to change over and, takes just 2 minutes with very little skill. You just need a small flat head screwdriver to pry the 2 bottom lugs slightly just enough to release it. These lugs secure it in place. Simply pull it out, unplug the wiring harness and switch it with the new one.
As a second vehicle it is ideal for us and a great quality car, deceptively large and a capable family car.
Hi Tankmania3, thanks for watching the video and taking time to leave a comment. I'm glad you love yours and in years to come I think these cars are going to become quite desirable as a well made relatively inexpensive EV. Happy motoring!
Thank you... that fear of having to sit somewhere and wait for it to charge in order to make my return journey rules this car out for me.
Hi Arjun, thanks for watching my video. Yes, the limited range is a real deal breaker for a lot of folks considering EVs. Once it gets reliably to 250 miles on a charge I think we will reconsider one again.
I've bought the new Kia Soul... just thought I'd mention it... tc
I’m looking at a used one, 2016 for my daily commute of 60 miles per day. How long does it take to fully charge? I have an extra car, but could this get fully charged over night in my garage?
Hi, thanks for watching the video. 60 miles should be fine as long as it isn't really cold and/or there aren't lots of hills. To fully charge from a dedicated wall charger is 9-10 hours because it can't take more than a 3.6kw input, unless you have a 3 phase supply. We always used the granny charger, so that was slower still but it was never an issue.
the first honest review I've seen of this car. the range it is rubbish an the charge is laughable.
Thanks for watching the video and taking the time to comment. It's a shame because there are many things to like about the B250e - in years to come hopefully those that are left can be retrofitted with a longer range battery and better charging capability.
Would a 225xe be more suitable? hybrid so no concern about that long journey but with battery for local journeys
Thanks for the suggestion, and yes, I think it would. We are also looking at a Lexus NX300h which gives the elevated driving position my wife wants and is also a hybrid.
How do you check the battery status on these cars, on your own. Does it have something similar to the bars Nissan Have
I don't think there is the equivalent of Leaf Spy for checking battery status. However I recall reading that there was 10-15% headroom built in to the battery so it would take a lot of degradation to see a dip in range. I think this was because it was a 36KW pack, but only 31kw was available to use (with the range extender) or something like that.
This B Class electric car appears to be a prototype for Mercedes unfortunately Mercedes did follow up its advancement with electric cars soon after this B class and missed a massive opportunity and trick, unllike Tesla whom believe in the electric cars change and their continuous advancement for electric powered cars for the future. I did end up getting a Tesla 3 in March 2021, a first time fully built in China for Tesla, as replacement for my E Class which I bought from new. A very high quality electric vehicle giving 280-300mile range which is excellent and my key is my iPhone! I swapped to a Tesla as its environmentally friendly and Mercedes have been very slow and could not offer anything suitable for the electric powered car change which is inevitable. Your review and sum up for this B Class is very good and to the point.
Hi Max, thanks for your comments and your kind words. It's great to hear that you love your Tesla and yes, I agree, Mercedes should have stuck with it. The new EQS looks like they are back on track though. Safe travels!
You said in your video that you paid for a service plan. Approx £16 per month? How did you get the plan, as I am having difficulty setting one up on the Mercedes-Benz website, says that my registration number/car model not recognised.
I arranged it in person when I visited the dealer to book it in for a service. I am not sure it's worth it though as there's hardly anything for them to do. The desiccant cartridge should be replaced for free (according to the service guide) so it's only brake fluid and a visual check over that you should be paying for.
I have been thinking about an EV as a second car for a little while now, due to my wife doing a lot of under five mile trips with the kids and dogs. With having the dogs it would have to have good boot space. Your review was exactly the information I was looking for regarding the B250 E. Excellent review. I will seriously consider one, to save the Q 7 doing short stop start trips, which been honest, a Q 7 isn't designed for. Excellent review. Oh, one question, do you know what is the expected life of the batteries, before needing changed? and if they did what kind of costs? thanks again for an excellent review.
Hi Ronan, thanks for watching the video and leaving a comment. I think a B250e will make a great 2nd car for running alongside a Q7. We moved from a Q5 to this as you saw in the video and there was always plenty of space. Assuming you are in the UK the battery pack is warrantied for 8 years so hopefully you won't need to worry about replacement. I've no idea what it would cost, but I understand a few in the USA have had theirs replaced. I suspect it would be more than the car is worth, sadly.
I have read articles calculating that the (Tesla) batteries in the B250e are expected to last for 30 years or 500,000 miles. We have a 2015 and a 2017. The '15 is six years old now and still fully charges in 3 hours on 240v/40a.
Great and clear review of usage of a compliance EV. Loved the shocking point that your wife will go back to a petrol car for the next nine years. i wonder if the government will make that same conclusion?
Thanks for watching the video Nigel and for taking the time to comment. We'll have an EV again I am sure, but this one had too many limitations for us.
I’ve had onoenow for 4 years, 50K done. The only car I’ve had that has stopped on me 3 times. Replaced of drive unit, replaced onboard charger og heater. Cost of parts alone was more than the cost of the car when purchased. First and last Merc.
Sadly I fear this will the story of EVs going forward. Much cheaper to run and maintain but when they break down they do it properly and it costs a fortune to fix. I miss this car though and I wish I/mywife had kept it a little longer.
thank you for this. interesting view, obviously you couldn't expect for this car to be what is not. how do you find the bmw i3 for comparison? for around city this car should be fantastic. how was the quality of the materials? finishes?
Hi George, thanks for watching the video. I like the i3, but the rear door arrangement does not suit us as a family with two young children as it's a bit a of nuisance for daily use. This s a shame because it would be a great option for all our local journeys. However the ride on the one I have driven wasn't very compliant though, which is typical of modern BMWs I find. And in the UK at least they are still expensive and the cheapest one right now is £11,500 and it has 96k miles.
@@MostlyHelpful some might find the rear door arrangement as an advantage for a family with two young children as they couldn't accidentally open the rear doors. how did you find the materials and finishes on the e250 electric drive ?
Hi George, with the child locks enabled the rear doors can't be opened on our cars so that's never been a problem for me. The material and finish on the B250e was really really nice actually and certainly felt every bit as good as my C-Class. It's one of the things that really appealed about it because being a Mercedes it's a well built well finished product, so I would have no concerns there. Compared to the i3 I'd say the materials are better but the design is more conservative.
We have an i3 and we have 3 kids. Our youngest is still in a car seat. Yes it takes extra time with the rear door, but honestly we LOVE it and we use the car every single day! The doors are not a deal breaker by any means for us. We are just now looking for something else , a tad bigger. 😃
@@theADHDinfj the offer on the market now is way more diverse than it was when the mercedes or the i3 were launched. make sure to buy yourself a device to measure the EMF or EMR for radiations emitted by the electric system ( batteries). it would be sin for you or your children to get cancer because of the raditations emitted by these electric cars! here is one of the links
ruclips.net/video/o5yOKN-12P4/видео.html
here is 2nd....
ruclips.net/video/mdFpQAEfZ30/видео.html
and so on... you can fiind it on youtube if you want it to...
Hi, thank you for your report. What do you think about a used b250 with 8000 miles and 22k€ (18,7kGBP) with extended range? is it fair?
Every market is different but that certainly sounds a fair price if buying in the UK. Good luck with it.
@@MostlyHelpful it’s listed in the spanish market. I have heard that last b250 units were sold by 23-24k€ because of their selling failure… so I’m pretty sure that owner is not going to lose too much but imo it’s good price too… even in spain. Thanks again for your review, I have completely felt reflected on your words about possible ev uses (close work, supermarket, kids…) … let’s see if I go ahead
Is it possible to get a range extender ?? And an adapter for fast charging?
There is no way to extend the range, unfortunately. There was somebody working on a fast charge solution in the USA (with a port under the bonnet) and I know a few cars were converted, but certainly there's nothing that is manufacturer approved.
This seems to have more cargo room than most EV's
Yes, it's exactly the same boot size as an ICE powered B Class. The rear seat passengers have a shallower footwell, so that seems to be where they've taken the space for the batteries.
Im thinking of buying one, I live on a Caribbean small island and need good AC. Can any owners tell me how well this is working in hot conditions?
Hi Simon, thanks for watching the video. The UK doesn't get that hot as you probably know, but I didn't think that the AC was strong enough for our climate, let alone the Caribbean. But then a model in your territory probably runs a bigger compressor than it would for Euro spec cars. What I also noticed is that if you put a window down, say when ordering at a drive-thru, it would cut the AC. This happened on any window too, not just the front ones.
@@MostlyHelpful Thanks for the reply! That does not sound very hopeful, we need something that can deal with the 35 degrees around noon. Will continue my search for an EV that can deal with Caribbean roads and temps ;)
I think the range extender works by letting you run the battery flat in an emergency, ie you run out of power and are still several miles from home, or a charging station. Running a battery flat on a regular basis is not good for the battery, leaving 20% extends the battery life.
A regular Tesla battery pack is 5kw so maybe uses 6 of them. From memory they are about a metre long, about 300mm wide and about 50mm thick. Be interesting to see under the car.
I no longer have the car, so I can't test it, but on the UK cars there is no hidden reserve of power. When the GOM tells you it's empty, it is empty. The range extender functionality allowed you to more fully charge the battery on the occasions when you needed the extra range. They did it this way because, at the time, it wasn't clear what the degradation profile would be from constantly charging a battery to full. But it has great thermal battery management so it's actually a bit pointless and in an ideal world you wouldn't need to press a button to get it to charge to its full capacity.
Under the car was a completely flat undertray and the only thing visible was a small trap door where you could find the desiccant drying pack.
@@MostlyHelpful Ok. I remember reading what I wrote, but I don't remember what car/cars it was referring to.
4:45 *Absolutely ideal as a second car that would be used 85% of the time - nip to ALDI [or Waitrose] !*
Definitely, as a 2nd car it would be great. But they are still upwards of £15K and typically people need their 2nd car to be a lot cheaper.
No DC charger has literally killed that car.
Hi Pawel, thanks for watching my video. It is a massive oversight I agree, but in the future when on street chargers are ubiquitous I think people will really begin to appreciate how good a B250e is. Until then it remains a compromised choice.
looks very much like a hybrid car that someone has forgotten to out the ice in lol
In years to come I think it will appreciated for what it is, that being a nice, well made urban run-around. Currently they are too expensive for that for most people, but in that role the lack of fast charging won't be an issue and the other benefits will shine through.
I was considering the Fiat 500e until I came across the B250e
I like the 500e although I having had 2 Fiats I would be nervous about the fact that the door release both inside and out is electrically actuated. And we all know wat Fiat electrics are like...
@@MostlyHelpful thank you, I didn't know that about the Fiat, I have also learned that the B250e has been know to have coolant leaks into the motor, I am looking into one near by and plan to get a PPI before buying
Let me summarize your situation: you like the ride of high end luxury cars, shifting gears, noisy engines and don't care about acceleration. Your wife wants 100+ miles of range. Mmmm, why did you EVER think you would be happy with the B250e?
While all your comments are factual and I really appreciate any attention shown to this forgotten EV I feel a tone of overall disappointment comes through. The slightest amount of research would have saved you this one year detour from your blissful gas car life.
As for me this is one of the best cars I've ever owned. It is a second car to my wife's longer range EV, so that helps. 85 miles has been more than enough range for 95% of my driving.
As I said, I do appreciate your review and apologize for the seeming harsh tone of my comments. Perhaps this was a voyage of discovery for you and it took time to know what you wanted in a car.
Hi, thanks for stopping by. This video was early on in my RUclips "career" and so these days I would be more succinct. But I think you've partly misinterpreted what I said because some of that was related to EVs in general and some of it was related to the B250e.
Specifically, while researching EVs in general at the time almost everybody would say that they were fun to drive. I don't find the ones I have driven fun (which to be transparent is a 1st Gen Leaf, a B250e, a Hyundai Ioniq and a Skoda Enyaq) because once you've done a few acceleration runs, they aren't. I don't know what people find fun about them to be honest, but they do make great city cars and/or cars where you drive a lot in traffic.
The B250e falls down in this category though because the ride is needlessly firm and as mentioned in the video a very much cheaper VW Golf rides very much better. Do also bear in mind the the UK has appalling road conditions, yet the UK buying public like big alloy wheels and stiff suspension. I don't know why and in all honest it's idiotic, but it's how cars are sold here and so it is hard to escape. I suspect a B250e on 16" rims would ride considerably better and I think that's how they came in the USA.
The range thing we knew about and we thought it wouldn't be a problem and 90% of the time it wasn't. But it seemed that there wasn't a month when either my wife or I had an issue with the range or the charging. It isn't helped by the strange decision of Mercedes to not allow consumers to fully charge the battery without an input from them, in this case to activate the range extender. So there was a scenario where I had forgotten to do that so instead of 100 miles I had 80 available Then it was both cold and raining and so having done a journey on the motorway of 34 miles the GOM was telling me I only had 29 miles left. So I charged on the way home, but because it doesn't do fast charging it took a while, and that was after visiting two other chargers that were both broken.
All of these limitations I knew about but what I hadn't realised was how travelling at our motorway national speed limit (70mph) massively hampered the range. I think more modern EVs handle this better but on the B250e you could start with 100 miles, and after driving 50 miles at motorway speed you'd have 20 miles left. That is just wrong in my opinion.
Despite all of that I'd happily have another EV and in many way I'm looking forward to it but in the meantime my wife's new Mercedes GLC300 arrives next month and I think overall she will be happier but I am glad that the B250e works for you.
As rare as these are, it means there will be almost no way to get major repairs in 10 years. That is what happened to the toyota rav4 EV. Toyota will refuse to work on it
Sadly these do seem to be suffering fluid ingress in to the motor when one of the major seals fails. MB will want to swap in a new motor unit but thankfully, in the USA at least, there's good aftermarket support and the motor units can be repaired. Here in the UK no such service exists unfortunately so these have the potential to become very expensive very quickly. The rest of the car is standard B Class so no issue with parts or service there.
My car’s engine failed. Also something related to the coolant according to pre-death messages.
Official asked $17k for a motor replacement. Non-official service asked $15k. Well, it’s not worth it.
However if you say there is a good aftermarket support, I will keep looking. Hopefully, somebody can fix it for reasonable money.
Silly going back to ICE
No regrets going back to ICE. My wife loves the Mini and this particular EV has too many limitations. But if it works for you then crack on.
17:30 *2035 For Hybrid Cars Hang on a bit - by then predict `100' Mile Battery Range with 3 Duracell AA Cells as back up to get you HOME What Else does your Wife Need ? !*
Hybrid cars aren't for me. The ones I've driven have never impressed so I'd rather go ICE or full EV.
For f. sake, can you speak about the car & model you have on the video title? I can see the reason for the many subscribers.
Please explain since this video is literally me talking about and driving the car & model in the video title, a B250e (EV). If instead you want to hear about the current B250e (Hybrid) then I very clearly explain that it doesn't cover that model within the first 60 seconds so it's not like I didn't warn you.