Pricing
There are no bones about it, the EQB is a pricey car – especially if you view it next to the kaleidoscope of five-seat hatches and SUVs that it must compete with. Luckily there’s plenty of cachet about the way the EQB looks and operates to help compensate and, of course, that seven-seat layout is a huge advantage that no comparable electric car can offer. So while it isn't cheap, you also don't feel shortchanged given what the EQB can offer as a family SUV.
We'd settle for the basic EQB 250+ Sport Executive and add the optional adaptive cruise control, maybe one of the brighter metallic colours, and that's a reasonable value seven-seat family car that'll cost from around £400 per month depending on your deposit and PCP finance or leasing parameters.
Running costs
The EQB should be very affordable to run by the standards of posh, fast SUVs, provided you don't need to rely on public charging too often as this can cost three- or even four times the cost of charging at home. A full charge at 29p per kWh (the standard price of domestic electricity at the time of writing) costs around £20 depending on which battery you're charging, but you can halve that if you use an off-peak tariff.
The EQB's eight year or 100,000 mile battery, and three year overall vehicle warranty (with no mileage limit) are on par for the class too, albeit lagging behind the behemoth cover you’ll get with a Hyundai or Kia.
Insurance
Insurance costs are currently high for most new vehicles, electric or otherwise, but the EQB is fairly punchy given that it falls into groups 46- to 50, with 50 being the highest group that a car can be rated in. That's not unusual for fairly high performance, premium SUVs, so don't think that the EQB is unusual in this. It won't be cheap to insure, though, so do get a personalised insurance quote before you commit.
Servicing
As with most modern cars, the EQB will tell you when it needs attention - and that timeframe may vary depending on how you use the car. Expect it to need a service every 12- to 18 months, or 15,000. Mercedes servicing isn't cheap on a walk-in basis, so if you're buying new you're better off going for a fixed price plan and spreading the cost.