Why the New Mercedes CLA EV Has a Frunk When the EQS Didn’t

Mercedes-Benz didn’t manage to carve out space for a front trunk in its EQE and EQS electric sedans. While that didn’t stop those cars from generally being pretty good, it was a disappointing omission nonetheless; frunks are one of those conveniences that the great migration to EVs was supposed to make commonplace. Fortunately, Merc was able to address it while dreaming up the new CLA, though doing so wasn’t just as simple as giving the compact sedan a longer hood.

The CLA is built upon a new platform that is designed to support both gas-powered and electric vehicles alike. That meant the hood on this thing was never going to be as short and tapered as those of the earlier EQ sedans. So, yes—the designers did have more room to work with here from the jump.

Still, the front of an EV contains plenty of hardware that typically nibbles away at potential cargo space. In the EQE and EQS, much of it was devoted to a massive HEPA air filter built to ensure immaculate air quality. Mercedes engineers had to downsize that and other components to clear out room for the CLA’s frunk, as product strategy VP Christoph Starzynski told The Drive during an event for the car’s reveal.

“The frunk of the EQE, EQS would have been very, very condensed because this HEPA filter, if you really see how it’s set up with how many layers, it’s huge,” Starzynski said. “So the question is, at the end of the day, how much [space] is left for the customer, because you only want to do a frunk if the customer can really use it.”

Starzynski said that Mercedes decided to invest more into cargo volume for the CLA, given its compact nature. “With the new way how we have developed our climate system and everything you have—the cooler is lined differently. So we packaged it completely different.”

Streamlining all that HVAC gear helped free up more than 100 liters—26 gallons—of room for stuff and things, Starzynski told us. And the efficiencies realized in architecting that system today might not have been possible five years ago, when the EQS was still in development. “There was a purpose [in not offering a frunk] on the EQE, EQS side from a health perspective,” Starzynski added. “There is now excellent air filtration in there. The technology is progressing, so we don’t need this big thing anymore and now we can offer a frunk.”

Overall, the CLA offers a combined 16.8 cubic feet of cargo room between its front and rear trunks, which is pretty good for a small car. The front one is made 70 percent of recycled materials, and Mercedes considers the new CLA its first “modern” product to have one. You have to go back nearly a century, to the Mercedes-Benz 130, to find a vehicle wearing the three-pointed star that carried cargo ahead of the driver. Of course, CLA buyers who opt for the hybrid powertrain that will be revealed at a later date will find something a little more traditional under the hood.

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The post Why the New Mercedes CLA EV Has a Frunk When the EQS Didn’t appeared first on The Drive.