The Mercedes EQ brand has had a serious problem finding the correct amount of ambition in its first five years. Take the five cars the line revealed today: Three are high-end concepts or pre-production models representing how Mercedes will translate the top of its current line to an electric future. One, the EQB, is little more than an electric version of an existing small crossover. The fifth, however, is the car that can change that. This is the Mercedes-Benz EQE, a wholly new mid-sized sedan that represents the first electric-first mass-market option for the EQ line.
Just like the EQS, a brand new flagship sedan meant to demonstrate the Mercedes S-Class concept can live on in an all-electric world, the EQE translates the idea of the current E-Class line to a new product in the electric segment. The EQE shares the same architecture as the EQS, but is instead about the size of the existing CLS. The base power option is more modest, too; the EQE revealed here is the EQE 350, a 288 horsepower offering that will be one of two power levels available when the car debuts.
All EQEs will have an electric drivetrain feeding the rear wheels, but all-wheel-drive models will be available with another electric drivetrain powering the front wheels, too. Those motors are fed by a 90 kWh battery, a smaller unit than the 107.8 kWh option in the larger and more powerful EQS.
Mercedes gives a range of 410 miles on the more generous WLTP cycle, significantly less than the 478 offered by the EQS. The car will also be able to traverse 155 WLTP-rated miles after 15 minutes of quick charging. When charging, Mercedes says that the car will communicate directly through the charging cable with 530,000 approved Plug & Charge points throughout the world, skipping time that would otherwise be wasted setting up charging time and billing price on a proprietary app.
Unfortunately, the EQE also shares a general egg-like appearance with the larger EQS. Mercedes EQ calls the style “Progressive Luxury,” a name that could have been generated by an AI trained on premium brand design language names. That look produces an exceptional drag coefficient of 0.20 on the EQS, but no number was given for the smaller EQE.
Mercedes EQ
With an optional dashboard-spanning MBUX Hyperscreen equipped, the car’s interior will look familiar to EQS buyers. Two massive, turbine-shaped vents accentuate an entire otherwise made up entirely of light shades, blue accents, and the highest square footage of screen a modern car can possibly handle. Other traditional options include four-wheel steering, active air suspension, and a wide variety of automated safety features. The Mercedes me store will also offer new features over the air; so far, that list includes things like a separate driving mode for young drivers and a sound experience called “Roaring Pulse.”
Mercedes has not given the EQE a price or delivery date just yet, but it considers the car a direct competitor to the Porsche Taycan, Tesla Model S, and BMW i4. The most affordable Taycan starts at $82,700, so we can guess that the EQE will land closer to that range than the Polestar 2’s $59,900.
Check out the other new reveals Mercedes EQ debuted today:
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