We recently experimented with the Mercedes-Benz EQS, and while it’s not perfect and can only muster around 186 miles / 300 km in the real world, the idea of a battery-powered Mercedes really started to make sense. However, range won’t be a problem with the brand’s future electric vehicles, as it has just announced that its flagship EQS electric sedan will go beyond 435 miles or 700 km on a single charge.
That’s what Mercedes said the EQS concept was able to pull together and we’re impressed and intrigued that the production model matches it. The manufacturer will even build the battery packs itself, at its Stuttgart-Untertürkheim facility.
The information was made public by Daimler’s boss Ola Källenius at the Daimler Annual Meeting. Regarding the EQS, which will launch next year, he said that it will mark
‘a new era for Mercedes in terms of electrification. The EQS will establish standards. More than 700 kilometers of driving range according to WLTP. With EQS, the way we think about cars is changing. It is the first fully electric luxury sedan from Mercedes-Benz based on a fully electric architecture. This opens up entirely new possibilities, from the position of the batteries to the design of the car. ‘
It must be said that the claimed range of 435 miles / 700 km will be slightly lower in the US, where cars are tested according to the EPA test cycle, not WLTP. At the same time, Mercedes has not announced the exact number and it will be over 435 miles / 700 km, so we will have to wait and see.
The EQS will be the first non-Tesla EV to challenge (and possibly even beat) the Model S Long Range Plus, whose EPA range is 402 miles / 647 km, which has a 100 kWh battery pack.
