Charging Cable

[Zishan09]

Hi,

New to this forum but need some help with a quick question as Im just about to buy myself a used B 250e electric art from an official Mercedes Used Car dealership in Birmingham, in the UK.

I've been to see the car, but it had no charging cables! The dealer has ordered one which he says is the charging cable for a home socket but having read through the brochure, I believe that the charging cable for a wallbox/public charger (ie the type 2) should be included as standard as well. The dealer has told me this isn't the case and that this other cable is an optional extra and he's said it will cost £500-600 if I get the cable through Mercedes official.

So could any other owners, especially in the UK, please let me know if they got both cables as standard or if it is just the home charging (UK 3 pin one end) cable? It's important to me as I have had a wallbox charger installed at home and without the cable it's useless and I obviously don't want to have to pay for a cable when it apparently should come with the car.

Many thanks in advance for your help.

 

[JeffRay]

Zishan09,

There are a few UK folks like you on this forum so await their advice.

In the U.S., one only gets a pokey 110v charger. Whether it can handle UK standard voltage, dunno. As a used car, perhaps you can negotiate the purchase to get your preferred charger. You do need to be sure that whatever you get can plug into the installed car charging port. There are good posts here you can peruse and you can PM folks like Tony Williams who does this sort of thing professionally.

Be sure you read up on the posts about extended warranties. You will want to understand what you are getting with an authorized MB dealer used purchase. These are cars that you will want an extended warranty for the battery and motor. The other items common with ICE cars you can decide to take risk or not.

 

[Zishan09]

Hello JeffRay

Many thanks for getting back to me and for you advice, much appreciated.

I believe the battery has a warranty until 2023 and the dealership is giving a one year warranty from date of purchase, which Im told can be extended via Mercedes head office. But yes, I'll have a read up on the extended warranty posts on here.

Thanks again

 

[MikeP]

Hello, be careful as it looks that you are being diddled! The B Class Electric has two cables supplied as part of its inventory and you should insist that both cables are supplied FOC. Here is the inventory list:
* Charging cable for household socket (mode 2) – 4 m, 13 A, coiled
* Charging cable for wallbox and public charging stations (mode 3) – 4 m, 16 A, non-coiled

I had both cables supplied with my used car from MB Worcester (UK) and they cost a fortune to replace. Search on the MB website for 'B-Class Electric Drive' and you'll find a 17-page inventory list!
Hope this helps - MikeP

 

[JeffRay]

MikeP,

Thank you for that post. Not a question those of us in the U.S. who only get one coiled cable could answer.

 

[Zishan09]

Thanks MikeP.

Yes I persisted with it and they eventually gave in a ordered me the second cable for a wall charger/wallbox. He had originally said it would be £500 extra!

I also wrote to Mercedes UK in Milton Keynes to check and they were very helpful and despite saying that as its a used car they cant guarantee both cables, they said on this occasion they would make sure I had the cable and even rang the dealership to confirm they had ordered the second cable.

Thanks for the help guys. But I have one more query.....

Ive got the car now. Great drive but I have just connected the charge cable that I have (which at the moment is the home charge cable so charges very slowly) and the Mercedes Me app is saying even at 100% charge, the range of the battery will be just 71 miles. I know Mercedes give the theoretical range as approx 124 mile and from reading around real world driving is actually approx 90 miles per full charge, so can anyone help me as to why Im apparently only going to get a 70ish mile range on a full charge - which in reality will probably be about 2/3 of that?

Is it to do with the cable or is it a bad battery? For those who have had the car a while, I assume the range per complete charge decreases overtime as the battery wears - am I correct to think this?

Any help on this would be much appreciated.

 

[MikeP]

Great - I'm glad you got the cable sorted. Regarding the range, 70 miles is typical during winter months - don't worry! I've had mine only since Christmas and apparently the range will improve once warmer weather arrives. You can expect it to take 9 hours to charge using the 13 amp plug, or 4 - 5 hours using a 7kW charger. But please see my post about no-start as I am having terrible trouble with, what looks like, and charger - car incompatibility.
It's a great car! Cheers, Mike

 

[JeffRay]

MikeP has become a B pro pretty fast I would say. His comments are on the mark.

In the simplest terms, range is a function of the following in order of importance: outside temperature, driving conditions (urban or highway), heavy or light foot (newbies tend to enjoy rapid starts), and state of battery. There are more detailed posts which you can peruse when you have nothing better to do. Actually, they are quite informative if you have time.

Shoot the person who claimed 124 miles. Never seen in actual use conditions. In perfect conditions, folks have reported close to 100 miles. In the winter, without preheating car using the app and turning on the heater, heated seats etc, I have gone as low as 35 miles. Frankly, since I don't have a home charger, I left it parked last week when the outside temp dropped to 4 degrees overnight. Used my wife's ICE wagon instead (and got 7 mpg)

You can read the post on battery state after 3 years. Your dealer can and should run an annual battery test and like most Tesla batteries, after 3 years, it should have only degraded a couple of points to the high 90s. Note that the car only charges to 80% unless one uses the extra function when it will charge to 90%. So you should be good to go. We always advise buyers of used Bs to have the dealer run out the annual battery test scores as it also ensures that the battery warranty is valid (no annual inspection, no warranty).

 

[GlennD]

I just did a lot of 65MPH Freeway driving and after normal charging the GOM said 86 moles. With my normal street driving it usually shows around 63 miles . Realize the range meter reflects previous driving. It is only an estimate.

 

[MikeP]

Is it better then to look at the charge level meter rather than the range? I assume the %age charge indicates the true state of charge? Also, my handbook says that using the boost button will damage the HV battery. Is this so?
Thanks, Mike

 

[JeffRay]

Mike P.,

As to your first query, it depends on your preference. For example, I usually monitor my charge level percentage and always look to charge up when I drop below 50%, particularly in the winter. Too many past range anxiety moments when I walked out and it was say at 25% and I had to drive 5 miles to the dealer to charge up in stop and go urban traffic. Rolled into dealer more than once at 1-2% left. In the summertime, I am more relaxed and use the GOM but make a mental adjustment if I was going highway to airport and back, I would get more range than GOM indicated since it was based on recent history of urban driving. See what I mean.

GlennD or another engineer can explain more but the reason that MB throttles back normal charging to 80% of capacity is to preserve battery life long term. So when we boost to charge up to 90%, it will over time cause the battery performance to degrade a tick or two. Mine is leased and since it is winter here, I hit boost every charge up. In the summer, don't have to do that but I do anyway. Since you own yours, I would suggest you only hit boost when you know you will need an extra 12.5% range (10/80). This will preserve battery capacity long term.

 

[MikeP]

Many thanks for taking the time to explain the points, Jeff. It’s a steep learning curve for me. But as I lease the car, maybe I’ll hit the boost button and just smile!