Mercedes-Benz is fully committing to the electric vehicle (EV) market with its new EQS electric sedan.
The car is part of the company’s S-Class of vehicles putting it near the top of the Mercedes lineup. Mercedes-Benz says that to be granted the S-Class rank, the car needs to exceed expectations. This is the third major EV from the automaker, following the EQA and the EQC.
From the outside, the car isn’t very flashy. It looks super traditional and even a little too rounded for my taste. That said, the EQS still features a clean-looking design, and one that I’m sure will be easy to adopt for existing Benz owners. There’s also a special edition with a two-tone paint job and nicer rims that looks a bit more aggressive.
The inside is defined by a huge 56-inch curved glass dashboard that houses three separate displays; one behind the wheel, another in the middle and the third in front of the passenger. It’s unclear if this third option will be standard or an optional add-on like with the Porsche Taycan. Overall, it’s hard to tell how good the display is without interacting with it, but from a visual perspective, it’s stunning and looks cool.
There’s no price listed yet, but industry experts who talked to CNBC estimate that it would be over $100,000 USD (roughly $125,000 CAD).
The EQS will also be equipped with Mercedes driver assistance programs, including lane-switching and lane guidance. Mercedes says that it will operate at SEA level 3, which is a step above the SAE level 2 software Ford launched yesterday. For all the PC spec nerds out there, the EQS has 8 CPUs and 28GB of RAM to help power all the complex features built into the car.
If you want to see more pictures of the car, you can find Mercedes’ full portfolio here.
The car even has a specific sci-fi-like sound that can toggle on/off, which I love.
Much like other automakers, Mercedes has built the EQS on top of a modular EQ battery platform. This is the first car from the company to utilize the system, so its 770km maximum range is exciting. If Mercedes can maintain this range with its future cars, that’s a solid bump over Tesla’s Model S. Part of this extended range is due to the car’s excellent aerodynamics.
The battery fast-charges with 200kW chargers, which can do about 300km in 15 minutes, according to TechRadar. The 0-100km/h time is 6.2 seconds for the standard RWD trim. The upgraded all-wheel drive can hit 100km/h in 4.3 seconds.
The company hasn’t posted a specific release date yet for the EQS, but it’ll likely be available later this year.
Source: Mercedes-Benz, Tech Radar, CNBC
