We have to be honest: our first impact with the Mercedes-Benz EQE, in its 350+ version.
Launch Edition, was not the best. Getting around Milan with this sort of yacht on wheels is certainly not easy, it is a car that was born especially for long trips and we can tell by the great autonomy declared by the parent company, after a few days of use, however, we happily became slaves to the car’s automatisms, its absolute comfort and user experience at the hardware and software level.
So let’s go and find out what it’s like to drive a new Mercedes-Benz EQE 350+ Launch Edition in the long run, which we also showed to our friend youtuber Matteo Valenza: we did a collaboration with him and you can see the video below.
So let’s go and find out what it’s like to drive a new Mercedes-Benz EQE 350+ Launch Edition in the long run, which we also showed to our friend youtuber Matteo Valenza: we did a collaboration with him and you can see the video below.
Before we tell you about our experience “in the field,” let’s go through some basic technical data. The Mercedes-Benz EQE 350+ Launch Edition comes with a single 215 kW/288 hp permanent magnet motor mounted on the rear axle, capable of unleashing 530 Nm of instantaneous torque.
The battery, as mentioned above, is 90 kWh, with the on-board charger allowing it to charge as standard at 11 kW or on demand at 22 kW in AC (if you can choose the 22 kW, we explain why in our article How fast does an electric car charge?), while in DC it goes up to 170 kW.
We will talk about charging times shortly, we want to close our roundup of data by telling you about the 430-liter trunk, perhaps a bit sacrificed, and the wheelbase, which boasts a length of 3,120 mm. The space available inside the cabin is indeed abundant, benefiting comfort, even on the second row of seats. Our test version was not equipped with the new MBUX Hyperscreen dashboard; instead, we were able to try out the new variant with a slanted center screen already seen on the new C-Class (driving the new C-Class 300d Mild Hybrid), and it didn’t bother us at all.
In fact, we think the MBUX Hyperscreen is a tad exaggerated, whereas this configuration is decidedly more understated and incredibly functional. Here, however, we enter the realm of personal taste; for those who want to impress their friends, the MBUX Hyperscreen has very few rivals at the moment-not to say none.
We told you about a less than crackling start, and that’s partly because of an engine that, at first glance, seemed a bit “small” on a 2,355-pound premium sedan.
Just to give you a sense of the ratio: those driving a single-motor Tesla Model 3 Standard Range have 306 hp on a 1,611 kg weight, which translates into significantly more liveliness and sprinting than the EQE 350+. Those coming then from a Model 3 Long Range or Performance will find the Teutonic sedan somewhat boring, here, however, for a fair and direct comparison one has to trouble the EQE AMGs with twin engines and much more power available. The first few kilometers therefore disoriented us a bit, we found the car a bit too clunky, with the passage of time, however, we understood its true essence. On the front of comfort, convenience, quality of materials and overall user experience there are few cars that can currently compete with the EQE 350+ LE. Even the expensive new generation BMWs, think especially of the iX (with the new BMW iX in the Aosta Valley), seemed less refined and reasoned. The EQE 350+ LE is a car designed for extreme comfort, not only because of the massaging, ventilated and heated seats, but also because of an on-board software full of options, a class-leading digital instrument cluster, a state-of-the-art calibrated steering and full of fingertip buttons, many of them touch (which, however, retain quite a few fingerprints, like the entire gloss black center tunnel).
The excellently crafted and high-resolution central touch screen might initially be annoying in its tilted position and be a tad distant; the ability to control it via touch buttons on the steering wheel (right side), however, simplifies the user experience.
The EQE 350+ therefore is not made for racing, it is made for enjoying the ride, even given the impressive Burmester signature audio system of sublime quality, which you can adjust to your liking (it is one of the best systems we have ever tested in a car). With all the Mercedes-Benz technology on board also, it is often unnecessary to even drive-there is Level 2+ Autonomous Driving.
The Mercedes-Benz EQE 350+ LE is hands down one of the most high-tech cars you can drive today. On the active safety front you find practically all the latest assistance systems, plus Level 2 Autonomous Driving works beautifully – after all, we expected nothing less from Mercedes-Benz, it is the first company in Europe to sell Level 3 Autonomous Driving on its flagships.
With Adaptive Cruise Control activated, the car surgically doses both accelerator and brakes, although it can always happen to run into some “phantom braking” from time to time, which is why it is essential to keep your hands on the wheel and your eyes on the road at all times-as Level 2 dictates. The car is always alert and vigilant, sends you alert inputs if it catches sight of pedestrians at the roadside who might cross at any moment, brakes automatically if it considers a situation too dangerous (here maybe this system is a tad too sensitive…), helps you adjust your automatic speed based on road signs. This is thanks to several on-board sensors and top-of-the-line cameras. Elon Musk’s California cars have incredibly inferior cameras on board, on the German side, however, everything is in high definition and the 360-degree top-down view is outstanding, really hard to find better. Via software it is also possible to “fly” the camera around the car, with a very accurate and satisfying reproduction of the surroundings. The car is also able to park itself under various circumstances, and given its size this is no small detail.
Speaking of technological goodies: inside the cabin we have dynamic LED strips that interact with the driver (perhaps with respect to blind spot control), the striking glass roof can be covered by a convenient curtain (essential in summer), and the door handles are totally concealed.
When you approach the car with the keys in your pocket, the handles pop out and the digital lights welcome you; digital lights that can illuminate even the darkest roads excellently, cutting out from the high beam the cars proceeding in the opposite direction to ours.
We must also praise the rear-wheel steer, which in our version went up to 5 degrees (there is also an option for 11 degrees in the list): this feature is essential for turning the car in relatively tight spaces; you will be able to do very difficult maneuvers with fair ease.
n addition if the software detects an impending impact, or you are very close to an obstacle, engine power is drastically limited, it will be very difficult to bump into anything. In short, big dimensions but lots of technological aids, making the EQE 350+ more agile and streamlined than you might think. But let’s move on to thornier topics: real range and charging times.
Let’s start with the claimed figures: Mercedes-Benz claims an average consumption of 19.3 kWh/100 km. In the city this is a realistic figure, since the first kilometers in urban areas returned us a consumption of about 20 kWh/100 km. It is on the highway and in the suburban area that the EQE 350+ LE amazed us: on a 100-kilometer trip almost all on the highway but with some traffic and therefore with limited speed around 110 km/h we dropped to just over 18 kWh/100 km.
That is roughly the average consumption of our entire test, which closed at 18.5 kWh/100 km after 746 km on the road. Since the battery is 90 kWh, we are not at the 660 km promised by Mercedes-Benz on a charge but we still got 490-500 real km mixing city, ring roads and highways up to 110 km/h – also thanks to a really effective energy recovery system, which allows us to drive the car with only one pedal at its maximum level. Pushing the car up to a steady 130 km/h the range drops to around 350 km, but thanks to the powerful 170 kW DC on-board charger it is possible to recover about 200 km of range with just 15 to 20 minutes of connection to a Fast Charge pillar. Having arrived at this point, the real problem concerns our country’s charging infrastructure: currently 78 percent of Italian charging points are in AC up to 43 kW. It is still possible to travel and charge in DC at major highways, however, the columns you will find in our cities (big or small) will be mostly 22 kW AC, which is why we recommend you invest in a 22 kW Type 2 on-board charger. With the standard 11 kW charger, a 10% to 100% AC charge can force you to sit still for a little more than 8 hours; with the 22 kW you at least halve the time, we are at just over 4 hours for a full charge, a detail that makes it easier to run your car in areas where there are no DC Fast Charge columns.
With a 90 kWh battery even home charging starts to get prohibitively expensive: plugged into a 3 kW outlet the EQE 350+ LE charges from 10% to 100% in 27 hours, just saying. Of course, you don’t always have to go down to 10%, you can do continuous nightly recharging to keep the battery always averagely charged, electrics of this type, however, are born to be DC powered. If you plan to charge mostly at home it is perhaps better to consider smaller batteries, up to 60-64 kWh.
After a difficult first impact, mainly due to the car’s weight and size, the Mercedes-Benz EQE 350+ Launch Edition won us over mainly because of its technology and driving pleasure.
While it is not particularly powerful for its class, with less than 300 hp, its instantaneous torque is still enough for any use, driving in Sport we have all the power at our disposal and a stiffer and more precise steering, the EQE however seems to be made to be driven in Comfort. What you need to do on board is to be pampered by the quality of the seats, the sound system, all the materials in general chosen by Mercedes-Benz, screens and cameras at the top of the segment, and a Level 2 Autonomous Driving suite that works beautifully. A few active safety systems are perhaps a tad intrusive, and tend to brake even in situations where there is no one around you, but these are very rare cases. Of course a spaceship of this type cannot be driven everywhere, in the city you have to be careful of its almost 5 meters in length, thanks to the steered rear wheels however maneuvering becomes quite easy, too bad that the nose (or rear) constantly sticks out of any standard parking space.
Energy consumption is on average high if we make a comparison with the entire market and Mercedes-Benz will definitely have to keep working on this front, the large 90 kWh battery however allows you to really do anything: to take long highway trips or recharge once a week for standard daily city use.
It is true that the market offers us cheaper, less heavy electric cars that are at the same time more powerful and consume less energy, the comfort found on board this Mercedes-Benz EQE 350+ Launch Edition is unique, however; we have not found it even on the latest generation of electric BMWs.
On the software level, everything works somewhat satisfyingly as well, although the settings are a tad confusing, the instrument cluster could gain a few more graphics, and the voice assistant (not so much “Hey Mercedes,” we’re really thinking of the system voice that speaks to you in a variety of situations) is woefully inadequate, robotic, and annoying.
However, this is unfortunately a common feature of many cars, even premium ones. Fortunately, Smartphone Replication works state of the art, with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay displayed full-screen completely wirelessly.
The phone can be housed in the main compartment of the center tunnel, where among other things there is a wireless charging pad to help you keep the cabin free of cables and distractions. With a few fewer kilograms, a more powerful and efficient engine we could almost have bothered with the word “perfection,” Mercedes-Benz is getting close though.
