Published:
22 August 2023As we’ve seen, the A250e uses an usually large battery pack, and yet as a hatchback, it’s considerably lighter than the many saloon and SUV plug-in hybrids on sale. The 44 miles of claimed electric driving range that result from this combination of factors will sound very alluring for those who commute less than, say, 30 miles each way to work, and with the ability to charge at home or work, or both, it would certainly be possible to run the A250e like any other hatchback, except with meagre fuel bills.
Another advantage of the plug-in tech is that, with such low official CO2 emissions, company car drivers will enjoy a low benefit-in-kind rate: just 8%. And now that plug-in versions of the Golf and Audi A3 have been discontinued, the Mercedes also sits some way ahead of comparable cars in terms of depreciation. When we first road tested the pre-facelift car in 2020, our forecasts showed that after three years and 36,000 miles, the A250e will have retained 44% of its value, compared with 35% for the Mini Countryman Cooper S E Sport, and the (now discontinued) Hyundai Ioniq PHEV lags even further behind. This, of course, will be especially beneficial for those intending to buy on PCP finance.
In terms of day-to-day use, the only ergonomic caveat the A250e carries over its saloon range-mates is the slight fall in boot capacity, as a result of the electronics that sit beneath the floor.
