Mercedes GLC EV previewed: premium family SUV to go fully electric for the first time
The upcoming Mercedes GLC EV will be based on brand new tech and should offer more than 400 miles of electric range...
On sale Early 2026 | Price from £70,000 (est)
When Take That sang “you can have it all” in their 2007 hit single “Shine”, they might as well have been singing about the Mercedes GLC because it’s available with mild hybrid petrol and diesel power, plug-in hybrid petrol and diesel power and soon, it’ll also be available as a full EV.
Indeed, the new Mercedes GLC is set to be launched early next year, and it’ll go fully electric for the first time. Expected to act as an indirect successor to the discontinued EQC, the GLC EV is likely to remain on sale alongside its combustion-engined twin, with which it’ll share identical styling.
This same approach has been taken on the upcoming CLA; while that model will be available only as an electric car from launch, a hybrid version will soon follow, but instead of sporting different styling to separate EVs from combustion models like Mercedes has done in the past, both models will look largely the same.
That decision was likely made off the back of the huge success of the current combustion GLC, which is Mercedes’ best-selling model. Producing an EV that looks wholly similar to the current model could prove to help the German brand’s electric car sales. In EV form, the upcoming GLC will take on the likes of the BMW iX3 and Porsche Macan Electric when it arrives in 2026.
It’s expected to be the first model to use Mercedes’ new platform, dubbed MB.EA, and it’ll be powered by a 94.5kWh battery, which should be good for a range of more than 400 miles. The GLC should also be offered in both four-wheel-drive and rear-wheel-drive forms, pumping out up to 483bhp and 268bhp respectively.
For reference, the rear-wheel-drive iX3 puts out 282bhp, and the four-wheel-drive Macan Electric models offer between 382bhp and 630bhp, depending on which version you pick.
Charging should be pretty quick too, thanks to new architecture that allows the GLC to charge at speeds of up to 320kW. If that all sounds like a bunch of words and numbers, this should add 162 miles to the electric range in just 10 minutes. It’s worth noting, however, that it’s rare to find a public charger that can facilitate those speeds.
Inside, the new GLC will get Mercedes’ new MB.OS system, which should get some improved responsiveness, a 3D Google Maps navigation system and an upgraded AI-integrated voice assistant which can better recognise natural speech.
Thanks to a new, more compact heat pump, Mercedes has been able to free up some space under the bonnet of the GLC – specifically, 100 litres of ‘frunk’ space for extra storage. That’s alongside a 560-litre boot, which is more plentiful than what you get in the iX3 and Macan Electric.
The Mercedes GLC EV is set to arrive early next year. No pricing has been revealed yet, but we can expect it to start at around £70,000, which is around what you’d pay for a Porsche Macan Electric with a similar power output, and slightly more than a BMW iX3.
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