Mercedes EQS - the S-Class of EVs

 

I have to admit that I've been put off by Mercedes' styling of late, but the new EQS EV is a return to (former) form. From the side the EQS is elegant (see two-tone side pic after the jump) and screams luxury. The tail is okay with the thin rear lights and the front visage is a vast improvement over Mercedes' recent ICE designs. Electric motors of 245 kW (328 hp) and 385 kW (516 hp) will be available at launch with at 560 kW (763 hp) motor under development. Expect 400+ miles of range and fast charging. 4Matic all-wheel drive is an option. As a top range EV, the EQS comes with a plethora of standard and optional equipment like the MBUX door-ro-door Hyperscreen, Burmester premium audio, rear-wheel steering, four automatic comfort doors (allowing the rear doors to be opened at school pick-ups), infotainment with "Hey Mercedes" (supports 27 languages with Natural Language Understanding (NLU) and more than can be listed here. Prices will be in the six-figure range, but you knew that. For more information and two videos, click on "read more" and enjoy. We'll talk later about the amount of automakers chasing the luxury EV market (which may get very full) with lots of choices. With the increased competition fewer units may be sold, which is not indicative of overall demand for EVs. I know the more expensive models pay for the development costs, but we should be almost past that. The EQS should be at dealers soon. We shall see...

Source: Mercedes Benz = Media release, pics, and videos (2)

Media Release:

The new EQS: at a glance

Depending on the size of the battery and the vehicle equipment and also configuration, WLTP ranges of up to 780 kilometres[1] are possible.

The path to the aerodynamics world record of the EQS required several 1000 calculation runs in the virtual wind tunnel with approx. 700 CPUs per calculation. With its Cd figure[2] from as low as 0.20 the EQS is the world's most aerodynamic production car. The frontal area of the EQS is 2.51 m2. This results in an effective air resistance from 0.5 m².

The momentum delivered to the wheels by the eATS is checked 10,000 times per minute and set if necessary. This enables a much faster response in the versions with 4MATIC than with mechanical all-wheel drive.

The modular drive concept allows a wide range of maximum total drive powers from 245 to 385 kW. A performance version with up to 560 kW is being planned.

Of the maximum deceleration in the DAuto recuperation program of 5 m/s², up to 3 m/s² is achieved by recuperation (2 m/s² by the service brakes). This allows deceleration to a standstill without using the brake pedal, while at the same time the range benefits from this recuperation strategy and the high recuperation power (up to 290 kW[3]).

On request, the EQS has four automatic comfort doors[4]. Via MBUX, the driver has the option of opening the rear doors remotely and letting children get in at school, for example.

The standard rear axle steering with a steering angle of up to 4.5° contributes to the manageable and dynamic impression of the EQS. Alternatively, rear axle steering with a steering angle of up to 10° can be ordered or activated subsequently in the case of vehicles produced from the start of 2022 by means of an upgrade over the air (OTA). This makes a turning circle of 10.9 metres possible for the EQS, which is over five metres long.

DIGITAL LIGHT has a light module with three extremely powerful LEDs in each headlamp, whose light is refracted and directed by 1.3 million micro-mirrors. The resolution is therefore more than 2.6 million pixels per vehicle.

Mercedes me Charge has the densest charging network with over 500,000 charging points in 31 countries, including over 200,000 in Europe.

With the MBUX Hyperscreen, multiple displays merge seamlessly to create an impressive curved screen band over 141 centimetres wide. The area perceived by the occupants measures 2432.11 sq. cm.

The large glass covering the MBUX Hyperscreen is curved in three dimensions in a moulding process at temperatures of approx. 650°C. This process allows a distortion-free view of the display unit across the entire width of the vehicle, irrespective of the radius of the glass cover.

Depending on the equipment, up to 350 sensors monitor the functions of the EQS or peer into the vehicle's surroundings. And that's not even counting the antennas. The sensors record, for example, distances, speeds and accelerations, lighting conditions, precipitation and temperatures, the occupancy of seats as well as the driver's blink of an eye or the passengers' speech.

The optional driving sound of the EQS is interactive and reacts to a good dozen different parameters such as the position of the accelerator pedal, speed or recuperation.

No.6 MOOD Linen is the name of the fragrance composed especially for the EQS. It bears the number 6 because the first electric cars were added to the model range in 1906 in the form of the "Mercédès Electrique" vehicles.

More than 40 new inventions have found their way into EQS. In addition, 20 design applications protect the extraordinary design of the electric luxury saloon.

To get to the most important applications of MBUX, the user has to scroll through 0 menu levels. Hence the term "zero-layer principle".

The display area of the optionally available larger head-up display corresponds to a screen with a diagonal of 77 inches. The imaging unit consists of a high-resolution matrix of 1.3 million individual mirrors.

The "Mercedes-Benz pattern" is used in several places in the EQS, for example, in the exterior as a special variant of the Black Panel front or in a light-alloy wheel design. In the interior, the Mercedes-Benz pattern can be found in the backlit trim elements with laser-cut[5] or on the front passenger display as a digital decorative image. It is an abstracted, three-dimensional star pattern based on an early trademark of the Daimler Motorengesellschaft (DMG), which was entered in the trademark registry on 9 February 1911.

The HEPA (High Efficiency Particulate Air) filter as part of the optional equipment ENERGIZING AIR CONTROL Plus, with a volume of 9.82 dm³, cleans the incoming outside air at its very high filtration level. Over 99.65 percent of particles of all sizes are eliminated. Around 600 grams of activated charcoal are used to neutralise odours. The adsorption area is equivalent to about 150 football fields.

For haptic feedback during operation, a total of 12 actuators are located under the touchscreen surfaces of the MBUX Hyperscreen. If a finger touches certain spots there, they trigger a tangible vibration in the cover plate.

The Burmester® surround sound system in the EQS comprises 15 speakers with a total output of 710 watts and produces an unusually expressive, natural sound - the Burmester "feel-good sound".

A coating on the cover glass simplifies cleaning of the MBUX Hyperscreen. The curved glass itself consists of particularly scratch-resistant aluminium silicate.

The EQS is the first production car with a Cd figure[6] from as low as 0.20. In this way, it makes use of the advantages of the Purpose Design.

8 CPU cores, 24 GB RAM and 46.4 GB per second RAM memory bandwidth are some of the MBUX technical data.

The brightness of the MBUX Hyperscreen's screen is adjusted to the ambient conditions using the measurement data from 1 multifunction camera and an additional 1 light sensor.

With up to seven profiles, the display area of the MBUX Hyperscreen for the front passenger can be individualised.

"Hey Mercedes" supports 27 languages with Natural Language Understanding (NLU).

[1] The electrical consumption (and information based thereon) has been determined on the basis of Commission Regulation (EC) 692/2008 according to NEDC and Commission Regulation (EU) 2017/1151 according to WLTP

[2] Cd figure 0.20: EQS 450+ with 19-inch AMG wheel/tyre combination and AMG Line exterior (available in the EU from the end of 2021) in the SPORT drive program

[3] This value refers to the electrical power fed into the electric battery due to recuperation. Deviations are possible

[4] Follow after market launch

[5] Follows after market launch

[6] Cd figure 0.20: EQS 450+ with 19-inch AMG wheel/tyre combination and AMG Line exterior (available in the EU from the end of 2021) in the SPORT drive program