EV needs to 1) deliver the same features, performance, and convenience as current vehicles at a comparable price or 2) deliver considerable more than current vehicles to just an increased price.
It's good to see a luxury car maker introduce an EV and the Mercedes-Benz name will certainly lend itself to sales but the B-class is a weak offering for the U.S. market. Luxury hatches have never been a good seller here and any measure of success has been with performance-related models, which this isn't. I suspect the thinking at Mercedes-Benz was the U.S. has no frame of reference in the B-Class so introducing an EV model is safe bet. I don't see this selling well because it will likely be down on luxury relative to other MB cars (see previous C230 hatchback failure) and also down on performance (again, compared to other MB cars). Vague numbers like zero to 60 MPH in "considerably less than 10 seconds" is never a good sign.
It's good to see a luxury car maker introduce an EV and the Mercedes-Benz name will certainly lend itself to sales but the B-class is a weak offering for the U.S. market. Luxury hatches have never been a good seller here and any measure of success has been with performance-related models, which this isn't. I suspect the thinking at Mercedes-Benz was the U.S. has no frame of reference in the B-Class so introducing an EV model is safe bet. I don't see this selling well because it will likely be down on luxury relative to other MB cars (see previous C230 hatchback failure) and also down on performance (again, compared to other MB cars). Vague numbers like zero to 60 MPH in "considerably less than 10 seconds" is never a good sign.