All-electric goes all-terrain with Mercedes G-Class EV

A test drive of the new fully electric G-Class proved its ability to handle any kind of terrain, so don't fret, Seoulites!

An electrified Mercedes-Benz G-Class SUV goes through off-road courses at the AMG Experience Center in Yongin, Gyeonggi. [MERCEDES-BENZ KOREA]

YONGIN, Gyeonggi — A group of electric G-Class off-roaders drives through water deep enough cover many people's waists and over a bumpy and muddy rock crawl course while others effortlessly climb up a steep 30-degree incline using the off-road cruise control function at the Mercedes-Benz SUV Experience Center.

While many G-Class owners living in an urban environment would rarely find themselves in a similar situation, it’s reassuring to know that the tough body-on-frame with a 185 million won ($131,400) starting price tag is more than capable of taking on such terrain.

The new G-Class launched in the country in early November, coming with a fully electric version for the first time. While Mercedes-Benz Korea was keen to explain how safe the batteries were, the company declined to elaborate further for reporters invited to the experience center on Tuesday, citing "competitive reasons."

An electrified Mercedes-Benz G-Class SUV goes through off-road courses at the AMG Experience Center in Yongin, Gyeonggi. [CHO YONG-JUN]

The invitation to the center was not for a conventional test drive but for an off-road experience at the AMG Speedway, as the brand introduced the new G-Class and the electrified G-Class to the Korean market. The the 26,000 square-meter (280,000 square-foot) off-roading site is a recently opened driving center focused on the off-roading aspect of the brand's SUVs.

The new G-Class, however, does not look much different from the outgoing or even older versions of the off-roader, or even the original military-spec of the "G-Wagon" many are familiar with.

The vehicle, with its classic boxy, squared-off angular design and circular headlamps, retains the much beloved look while incorporating a more modern look with a refreshed design, interior and technology.

The new G-Class, for the first time, is also available with a fully electric powertrain alongside the internal combustion engine versions, featuring a straight-six diesel engine for the G450d and a V8 gasoline engine for the AMG G63 variant.

A diesel-powered Mercedes-Benz G-Class [CHO YONG-JUN]

Unlike the EQG concept and the rest of the current Mercedes EV lineup, the G-Class EV ditches the naming scheme and goes with the rather complicated “G 580 with EQ Technology."

The electric version also comes with more wow factors than its internal combustion engine counterparts. While most EVs are equipped with single or dual motor — or tri-motor in the case of high-performance Tesla models — setups, the electrified G-Class comes standard with four motors, which manage each wheel, with a combined 579 horsepower, powered by 118-kilowatt hour CATL-manufactured cells and rated for 392 kilometers (243 miles) of range in Korea.

Four electric motors controlling four wheels means that the car is able to control the power going through a wheel individually, an especially appreciated feature in tough off-road situations as not all four wheels are in contact equally in rocky terrain. Mercedes was able to simulate locking differentials, which force different wheels to rotate at the same speed for extra traction, through the individually controlled motors. The piece-de-resistance and the most visual demonstration, however, is the G-Turn, where the car does a 360-degree spin in a stationary position to execute a tank-like maneuver with a lot of wheelspin: something that must be seen to be believed.

Electrified version of Mercedes-Benz G-Class does a G-Spin [CHO YONG-JUN]

However, much like Mercedes’ infamous “bounce mode” designed to get out of sand and muddy situations that is more commonly used to show off in a city, the G-Turn puts significant stress on each tire and motor — the blue G-Class that was responsible for doing G-Turns all day with reporters in the back seat had to cool down for some time while the roads were hosed down to minimize damage to the tires.

A diesel-powered Mercedes-Benz G-Class SUV goes through off-road courses at the AMG Experience Center in Yongin, Gyeonggi. [CHO YONG-JUN]

Another impressive feature of the EV is its off-road crawl capability. Working like cruise control but for rough terrain, the car will maintain a set speed — 3 to 8 kilometers per hour depending on the setting — regardless of whether the car is driving on a heavy incline or through deep waters and rocky environments, so the driver can focus on steering the vehicle. This reporter, who had the opportunity to drive both the G450d and the electrified G580 through the same off-road course, could experience that the aid helps greatly in reducing the involvement of the foot as the driver is no longer required to provide a constant yet gentle throttle response throughout the uneven field.

The updated interior, featuring a touchscreen-enabled infotainment screen and intuitive and large physical control buttons also added a new “transparent hood” function, which, using the different cameras mounted on the vehicle, provides additional viewing angles as if the front hood of the car is transparent for off-road visibility.

An electrified Mercedes-Benz G-Class SUV goes through off-road courses at the AMG Experience Center in Yongin, Gyeonggi. [CHO YONG-JUN]

Mercedes-Benz Korea also invited the G-Class’s high-voltage battery and charging system manager from Austria in an attempt to explain the safety of the battery cells in the new electric version, detailing how the car features a carbon-mixed special underbody plate that keeps the battery “completely moisture free.”

“We invented new testing procedures [for battery safety] where we submerged the battery [with underbody plating] in salt water and we heated up the battery to 45 degrees Celsius [113 Farenheit] when the salt water was at 0 degrees Celsius,” Florian Hofbeck, the manager in charge of the G-Class’s high-voltage battery and charging system, told the reporters on Tuesday.

“So we made maximum stress for the battery as we even put torsion on the battery that is simulated if you are coming from rock and going to deep water.”

An electrified Mercedes-Benz G-Class SUV goes through off-road courses at the AMG Experience Center in Yongin, Gyeonggi. [CHO YONG-JUN]

The manager also added that they put measures to slow down the propagation of the battery in the event of a fire, but declined to give examples, citing “competitive reasons.”

The Edition One special edition of the electrified G-Class, with a total of 70 units, will first be sold in Korea with a sticker price of 239 million won, while the regular electric G-Class will arrive next year alongside the G63 AMG performance version.

The petrol-powered Mercedes-AMG G63 AMG [CHO YONG-JUN]

An electrified Mercedes-Benz G-Class SUV goes through off-road courses at the AMG Experience Center in Yongin, Gyeonggi.[CHO YONG-JUN]

BY CHO YONG-JUN [cho.yongjun1@joongang.co.kr]