MERCEDES-BENZ EQS
LONG WAY DOWN
Does the old-money luxury of the Mercedes S-Class translate to the nouveau riche world of electric vehicles? Time for a wee trip
WORDS OLLIE KEW
PHOTOGRAPHY MARK RICCIONI
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W hat’s fascinating (and awkward) about the Mercedes EQS is that it exists to pick up the indulgent barge baton and leg it into the battery powered future, from under the nose of the present incumbent. Mercedes still builds S-Classes. The current – stupendous – seventh iteration has only been on sale for about a year. With the EQS, Mercedes is attempting something most carmakers have failed to pull off in the past five decades: build an enduring rival to literally the S-Class of luxury cars.
This takes some time to mull over. About eight hours ought to do it. The rangiest version of the new Benz flagship you can buy in the UK is also the least expensive: the EQS 450+, which only empties the vast 107kWh battery with a single rearward motor.
The official claim is a monstrous 454 miles of maximum range. Enough, at the glance of a Google Map route planner, to schlep between the respective capitals of Scotland and England without visiting a public charger and being tempted by pallid insta-coffee or a tillside 3-in-1 phone-mount/ice scraper/head torch.