Latest Mercedes EV Surprises With Better-Than-Expected Range

There are many things that differentiate electric vehicles from their gas-powered counterparts, but they also have one big thing in common: efficiency matters. If you’re on a road trip, it’s a relief when you’re able to travel longer distances without refueling — whether that takes the form of refilling a tank or recharging a battery. And some new data on the electric Mercedes-Benz CLA suggests it will make range-conscious drivers very, very happy.

As Clint Simone writes at Edmunds, the company’s “real-world Edmunds EV Range Test” revealed that the 2026 Mercedes CLA 250+ could travel 434 miles on a single charge. That’s an impressive number all by itself; Simone notes that this is “the least expensive car we’ve ever seen cross the 400-mile threshold.” The figure of 434 miles is also significantly greater than the official range, which the EPA estimated to be 374 miles.

It’s worth pointing out that this very impressive figure was achieved by the rear-wheel-drive CLA 250+, which has a longer range than its slightly more expensive all-wheel-drive sibling, the CLA 350 4MATIC. Edmunds’s research also gave the CLA 250+ high marks for its charging speed, ranking it second place among all EVs they’ve tested.

Faster Charging, Four Doors and AI: Inside the Mercedes-Benz CLA

It’ll be available as both an EV and hybrid vehicle

At the end of November, Mercedes-Benz confirmed some pricing details related to the CLA: the CLA 250+ will start at $47,250, while the CLA 350 4MATIC starts at $49,800. The 2026 CLA class has also been getting high marks for its overall package, with Car and Driver‘s review stating that it “manages to uphold the brand’s prestige at a price point that’s low — at least for a Merc.”

An electric Mercedes might not be the first vehicle that comes to mind for a long road trip, but this data suggests there’s a good case to be made for it in exactly that capacity.

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Tobias Carroll

Tobias Carroll lives and writes in New York City, and has been covering a wide variety of subjects — including (but not limited to) books, soccer and drinks — for many years. His writing has been published by the likes of the Los Angeles Times, Pitchfork, Literary Hub, Vulture, Punch, the New York Times and Men’s Journal. At InsideHook, he has…