Daimler AG has added a new model, the EQS, to its range, positioned as the world's first executive electric car.
The car is the size of a traditional S-Class Long W223, designed from scratch on a new EVA (Electric Vehicle Architecture) platform, originally designed for the use of electric propulsion systems. Chassis created from scratch for electric vehicles are good because they allow you to arrange the units in the most optimal way, without resorting to the compromises that are inevitable when converting a chassis with an internal combustion engine to use an electric drive.
The EQS has unusual body proportions for executive cars - with a short nose, a sloping rear end and a long cab. This decision is easy to explain: electric motors are much more compact than internal combustion engines, so they do not take up much space. The exterior of the car reproduces the main moves of the 2019 EQS concept car. Fashionable retractable door handles, which in the folded position are retracted flush with the plane of the door panels, have also been transferred to the production car. Most of the exterior elements of the body are stamped from rolled aluminum.
The length, width and height of the serial EQS are 5216, 1926 and 1512 mm, respectively, the wheelbase is 3210 mm. Body type - liftback, that is, access to the trunk opens the door, not the lid. By the way, the volume of the trunk itself is 610 liters in the normal state and 1770 liters with the rear seats folded down. EQS is carefully designed in terms of aerodynamics - the drag coefficient Cx is only 0.20, this is the lowest figure for a production passenger car in the world (for comparison, the restyled Tesla Model S has 0.208).
EQS received a futuristic interior decoration, the main highlight is a fundamentally new MBUX Hyperscreen media complex. It consists of three large displays united under a single piece of glass 141 cm wide. The first screen is a digital instrument cluster, the second is the central media, the third is the entertainment system for the front passenger. The complex runs on an 8-core processor and has 24 GB of RAM. The central and passenger displays are touch-sensitive, and when you press the virtual buttons, the screen vibrates slightly, like on smartphones (12 actuators are responsible for this). The executive electric car also includes a Burmester premium audio system with 15 speakers with a power of 710 watts. Among other things, there is a soundscapes feature that includes four modes called Silent, Silver Waves, Vivid Flux and Roaring Pulse. The latter is an imitation of the sound of an internal combustion engine.
At the start, two modifications will be offered - EQS450 and EQS580. The first has an electric motor mounted on the rear axle with a power of 245 kW (329 hp) and a torque of 550 Nm, driven by the rear wheels. The second one has two electric motors (one per axle) and, accordingly, four-wheel drive. The total output is 385 kW (516 hp) and 828 Nm.
Regardless of the modification, the car is equipped with a lithium-ion battery with a capacity of 107.8 kWh, which provides a range of up to 770 km on a single charge.
The EQS 450 weighs 2,480 kg and accelerates from standstill to 100 km/h in 6.2 seconds, the curb weight of the EQS 580 is 2,585 kg and 0-100 km/h in 4.3 seconds. The maximum speed for both cars is limited to 210 km / h.
The EQS has a fully controlled chassis, the wheels of the front and rear axles turn in opposite directions, at low speeds this solution provides the huge car with the maneuverability of a small car. However, swivel rear wheels can also be ordered for the regular S-Class.
Sales of new items in Western markets and in China will start within a few months, prices in the European Union will start from 110,000 euros. At the expense of the possibility of the appearance of the car in Russia, there is no information yet.
The EQS is being launched at the Mercedes-Benz plant in Sindelfingen (Germany).
Mercedes-Benz has an electric flagship
