Mercedes-Benz has unveiled its new EQS Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV) which is its first fully electric SUV, headed for the US market late 2022.
The new all-electric SUV is described as a big, luxury, tech-laden Electric Vehicles (EV) and it is the sibling of the EQS sedan released last year.
However, this comes with seating up to seven people and a taller, bubblier stance with the hope of rivalling the Tesla Model X and BMW iX, according to Mercedes-Benz on its website.
Like the sedan, the EQS SUV features a tech-savvy interior that includes three screens covering nearly the entire instrument panel. A single 56-inch curved glass surface covers the screens, one of which is a passenger screen that is not visible to the driver.
“With the luxury EQS sedan and the sporty executive EQE sedan, Mercedes-Benz has entered a new, all-electric era in the upper market segments,” the company said in a release.
While Mercedes-Benz did not release the expected electric range of the EQS SUV for the US, the sedan version can reach up to 350 miles on a single charge, according to the US Environmental Protection Agency.
The EQS SUV is equipped with several safety and convenience features, including Mercedes-Benz’s latest driver-assist system that can control parts of the vehicle such as acceleration and braking when enabled.
The EQS SUV is simply a larger EQS: same 56-inch, pillar-to-pillar hyper screen (for the higher trim level), same 107.8kWh battery, same design language. Acceleration is likely to be different, though Mercedes isn’t disclosing the EQS SUV’s 0-60mph time quite yet.
Mirroring the EQS sedan line-up, there will be two trim levels: the 450+ with rear-wheel drive and the dual-motor sporting 580 4MATIC.
The 450+’s 265kW rear-axle motor will put out 265kW of energy, enabling 355 horsepower and 419 pound-feet of torque. The 580 4MATIC configuration’s front and rear-axle motors put out a combined 400kWh, for 536 horsepower and 633 pound-feet of torque.
In the 4MATIC model, the torque shift function ensures “continuously variable distribution of drive torque between the rear and front electric motors,” Mercedes said.
But one thing that distinguishes the SUV from the sedan is its off-roading capabilities.
Mercedes didn’t provide information about SUV architecture’s voltage, but it did say the battery will charge from 10 per cent to 80 per cent in 31 minutes when plugged into a 110kW-or-more DC fast charger. The EQS SUV’s peak output is 265kW.
