This is the new Mercedes EQS – Mercedes’ first PROPER electric car

The much vaunted Mercedes EQS – an electric take on the S Class in reality – arrives with a range of up to 475 miles and on sale this year.

We first saw the Mercedes EQS as a concept back in 2019, when we thought it would be the next Mercedes S Class. But it’s not. Instead, it arrives as a standalone model and the first proper Mercedes electric car, built on a bespoke EV platform – not a modified ICE car like the EQA and EQC – a platform soon to spawn an EQE and SUV variants too.

 Looking like you’ed expect a production version of the EQS Concept to look, the EQS is all smooth surfaces with a cab-forward design – and a production car record low 0.20Cd drag co-efficient – and pop-out door handles, with an interior that is very much IOCE S Class but with, if you’re paying enough, the massive full-width  MBUX Hyperscreen, complete with a vast 1410mm screen width, eight CPUs and 24GB of RAM.

Under the skin of the EQS is where Mercedes’ platform yields impressive results, with a 108kWh battery powering the two EQS models arriving first – the EQS 450′ and EQS 580 – and, for the UK, likely to be available only in AMG Line trim for now, but with a number of bolt-on options.

The EQS 450+ will arrive first in the UK, later in 2021, with the 108Kwh battery (expect a 450 without the ‘+’ with 90kWh battery later) and a single electric motor at the back good for 328bhp and 419lb/ft of torque, whilst the more powerful EQS 580 – with a motor on each axle delivering 516bhp and 631lb/ft of torque – will arrive later. Expect something even more powerful to follow.

Perhaps the big headline for the EQS is a range of 478 miles on a single charge. Mercedes hasn’t said which EQS can garner this range from a single charge, but we assume it’s the 450+, with the 580 likely to be closer to 400 miles.

But it’s chunky range from a big, heavy car, and even when your electrickery runs out you can charge back to 80 per cent in around half an hour thanks to 200kW DC charging.

Mercedes EQS Video