Mercedes-Benz EQC Owners Demand Battery Replacement or Buybacks After Recall Upgrade Shrinks Range

At the 15th China (Hangzhou) 315 Problematic Vehicle Exhibition on March 16, multiple Mercedes-Benz EQC owners traveled across provinces to seek redress, reporting that after a recall-related software update, their vehicles’ battery capacity dropped from 80 kWh to approximately 62 kWh, causing the driving range to plummet from over 400 kilometers to just 200–300 kilometers. Previously, at the 6th Guangzhou 315 Problematic Vehicle Exhibition, other owners also accused Mercedes-Benz and its authorized dealers of implementing "battery locking"—reducing usable battery capacity without their consent—resulting in significantly degraded vehicle performance. Owners questioned whether the manufacturer’s claim of preventing thermal runaway was merely a pretext for effectively shrinking the usable battery capacity, sarcastically referring to it as giving batteries a "shared common area" akin to real estate practices. Currently, affected owners are generally demanding either battery replacements or vehicle buybacks, but neither Mercedes-Benz nor its dealers have responded or taken action. This incident has once again sparked public concern over the quality and after-sales support of new energy vehicles.