Going beyond what’s visible, however, the EQS has some extremely interesting and impressive features. The 478-mile range is a figure Mercedes is sticking to, although it’s not yet been rated by the EPA in the States. That puts it well over the 400-mile benchmark a lot of people cite for an EV to start being a credible option.
What’s under the hood (or rather, somewhere at the back of the car) is where the two different EQS models due to reach the U.S. this year differ. The price of either car is yet to be announced, including in the detailed specifications Mercedes sent out for this launch, so we can’t tell you what the cost difference between the two is but it’d be reasonable to assume the EQS 450+, which has 329 horsepower and rear-wheel drive, will be cheaper than the EQS 580 4Matic, with 516 horsepower and all-wheel drive.
The 450+ does zero to 60 mph in 5.5 seconds, the 580 4Matic in 4.1—not at all bad for cars that are over 16 feet long and limited to a top speed of 130 mph. That top speed cut-out does make the EQS’ performance mode a little more baffling, as you’re not exactly likely to take it for a track day.
Both cars have the same 107.8-kWh battery pack, which they get a slightly different performance out of. That’s down to the motor-generator unit in the 580 4Matic just being beefier, but either way, the numbers are so astonishing that I had to clarify with Mercedes exactly what it was referring to.
To contextualize this: Tesla, on a good day and under hard braking, can recover up to 77kW into the battery from braking. Formula E cars, at the edge of regenerative regulation, can claw back up to 200kW. In the EQS 450+, it is 186kW, the 580 4Matic: 290kW. That’s so unbelievably high it’s hard to take seriously and might be incredibly scenario-specific, but Mercedes says that “This value refers to the electrical power fed into the electric battery due to recuperation. It can be achieved under optimal environmental conditions, depending on, among other things, charge status and temperature.”
So, although it may be regularly much lower, that really is referring to how much the brakes could put back in at once, which is still wild.