2022 Mercedes-Benz EQS: an electric S-Class with over 400 miles of range

 

This is the 2022 Mercedes-Benz EQS. The all-new all electric sedan straight from Germany. As you can see, it's still camouflaged a little bit. We got a sneak peak with the car before it's official unveiling.

So let's check it out.

The EQS has meant to be the all electric version of the Mercedes S-Class, which is the automaker's flagship luxury sedan. But the body of the vehicle is really unlike any sedan I've ever seen before.

Mercedes is really throwing down the gauntlet on an aerodynamic design with a sleek flowing silhouette that almost erases any hint of a traditional sedan form.

That will definitely help improve the vehicles range but will also create a more quiet cabin environment. We can't see the whole car because Mercedes is still keeping a little bit of it under wraps.

So we don't know whether the EQS will have the same digital front grill that we saw with the Vision EQS Concept car a couple of years ago. We'll just have to use our imaginations, and I'm imagining something very pixelated.

Stepping into the EQS is like stepping into a car from the future. I mean, you've got this infotainment screen that runs the full width of the dash. This is the Mercedes-Benz Hyperscreen, which the company first teased at CES earlier this year.

And as you can see, it's just absolutely massive. It's 56" pillar to pillar. What's interesting about the Hyperscreen is that it's actually several displays embedded in one solid piece of curved glass. Now there are three separate screens. You've got the instrument cluster behind the steering wheel.

The main infotainment screen in the central part of the dash. And then you've got this extra screen over here just an extra one for the passenger. So after you've driven the car a few times, the car is actually learning from how you use the car and it starts to surface the things that you want to use the most in these little widgets down here at the bottom.

So you've got the main navigation here. You've got your radio or your satellite radio or your streaming music service right here.

And then it's got a couple of other widgets a couple of other tiles. They call them tiles, that surface here at the bottom. So it's determined in the short time that I've had the car that I want the massage.

The seat massage. The heating and cooling settings for my seat as well as being able to link my device via Bluetooth. So the glass feels really nice. It's really smooth. It feels very seamless. There's actually some haptic feedback. So if I hit the menu button right here, the home button, you actually get a nice little click.

[Andrew] Hey, Mercedes. - [Mercedes] How can I help? - [Andrew] Turn on the air conditioner. - [Mercedes] Okay, I'm activating the air conditioning. - [Andrew] Hey, Mercedes.

- [Mercedes] How may I help you? - [Andrew] I'm too cold. - [Mercedes] I'm increasing the temperature to 68 degrees.

- So in terms of the screens in this vehicle, I've given you a bit of a sense of what's upfront, but it's literally half of the screens that are available this car. Which is kind of hilarious.

You would think this 56" long Hyperscreen would be enough screen for any car. Not for Mercedes. Mercedes wants even more a screen. So, we can show you in the back seat there are two screens on the back of the headrest. For both the driver and passenger seat.

So your rear passengers can enjoy various streaming service capabilities. They can look through the music. I think I just turned the lights on by accident. Because there's just lots of haptic feedback.

Touch controls all over this thing, that you find yourself kind of even just bumping into sometimes without even really meaning to.

And then, just in case that's not enough for you. There's even one more screen on the center armrest, in between the two rear passengers. That you can remove from its case. And use separately to interface with all the other screens. You can have yourself a screen party.

(upbeat music) The EQS will be available with two different battery configurations. A 90 kWh version and a larger 107.8 kWh version which is the model that we're currently driving. That's a really powerful battery especially when you consider that the largest battery that Tesla sells is only 100 kWh's. That makes the EQS's battery one of the largest on the road currently.

Mercedes says that the EQS can sprint from 0 to 60 in a little over four seconds. I wasn't able to confirm that but I can say that a light press on the accelerator really puts you back in your seat. It's not gonna rival the sub three second times that Tesla was able to achieve, but for a full-size luxury sedan It's plenty fast.

We didn't have the EQS long enough to test out the range. But if what Mercedes is telling us is true this may be the new King of long distance EVs.

The company says its larger battery will get around 478 miles on a single charge or about 770 kilometers. That's longer lasting than the most powerful Tesla which has a range of 402 miles. It's a really impressive amount of range for Mercedes. Now, Mercedes is basing its range estimate on the European standard.

Which is more optimistic than the US standard.

So it's possible that range could drop a bit when it hits the US. But it still seems likely that Mercedes will have a really strong contender on its hands when it comes to the global battle for EV range dominance.

(upbeat music) There's a lot writing on the EQS when it eventually into production. Now, Mercedes's first long range EV, the EQC hasn't reached the US yet and it's expected to be delayed indefinitely. That makes the EQS Mercedes's first electric vehicle to reach North America when it goes into production this summer.

And that's a pretty big deal. So when it eventually comes out, the EQS will go toe to toe with other luxury automakers electric vehicles. Like the Audi e-tron, Porsche Tycan, Jaguar I-PACE and the Tesla model S. I think the EQS is going to do quite well. And here's why.

Mercedes is Mercedes, and the S-Class. If you'll pardon the pun, is in a class, all of its own.

A lot of people consider the S-Class to be the pinnacle of automotive luxury. Now, Tesla has a huge headstart. There's no question about that.

But if Mercedes is going to be able to deliver on the range that it's promising in this vehicle, and it only ends up costing a little bit more than the most expensive Tesla, then there's no reason why this car won't be a huge hit. Now, the Tesla model S is getting a major refresh coming out. But it's also been around for almost a decade. that makes the EQS the new kid on the block. And a lot of people, especially rich people want the newest and best car that they can afford.

(upbeat music) The price is... We don't know. We don't know what the price is.

Mercedes won't tell us yet, what the price is. But they did say that there's going to be a couple of different trim levels on the vehicle. And we can assume that it's gonna be somewhere, North of a hundred thousand dollars. I bet you've also take $7,500 off of that price because Mercedes is still eligible for the federal EV tax credit, unlike Tesla and GM. Overall, I think the EQS is really going to impress a lot of people who are already really impressed with luxury cars.

And especially S-Class vehicles. But that said, I think what's actually really interesting about the EQS is what it's going to do for Mercedes, and its brand name when it comes to electric vehicles. 'Cause I think the EQS is actually going to help elevate Mercedes as a more serious contender in the EV market, than it really ever has been before. Thanks for watching. Please make sure to like and subscribe.