Mighty performance machine
steering, which lacks some feel and weight. This can leave the driver feeling remote from the road during presson driving and — compounded by the rearwheel steer input — inclined to apply more initial lock than is needed.
Selectable via paddle shifts in the usual way, the regenerative braking is excellent. With so much regenerative braking available simply by lifting off the throttle, the case for taking the ceramic brake option is weak, good as those discs are.
Shifting from a focus on the EQE 55 as a performance car to a luxury cruiser, it excels in delivering fine ride even on poor surfaces, especially in comfort mode. Tyre roar aside, noise levels are also muted.
Ease of electric motoring?
Drive the EQE 55 gently and its 90.6kWh battery will enable a realworld highway range comfortably beyond 400km. Succumb to its AMGprovided performance temptations, though, and available range will plummet massively.
There’s a handy function within the navigation system that alerts you to the nearest EV charge point when the battery starts running low. As well being fully compatible with the current network of mainly 50kW rapid chargers, the EQE will charge must faster with the next generation of ‘‘superchargers,’’ at powers of up to 170kW.
Largercapacity batteries, of course, take more time to charge to a given percentage of full than the smaller ones. As far as home charging is concerned, a consequence is that trickle charging via a regular threepin plug has limited value; anyone looking to own an EQE will want to install a higher capacity wall box.
On public 50kWh chargers, you will win no friends in the EV community by plugging in for the 90 minutes needed to lift the EQE 55’s battery charge from 10 percent to 80 percent. Commercial charging time concerns will diminish once superchargers are more widely deployed, with just 30 minutes needed for the same power boost off a 150kW charger.
Verdict
The EQE 55 left me in the odd position of feeling both hugely impressed and slightly disappointed.
Hugely impressed because the car is a brilliant piece of engineering. It easily matches Tesla in the digital realm and is remarkable in its blending of high performance, luxury and comfort attributes.
A trifle disappointed because the EQE 55 carries the badge of AMG, which is Mercedes’ ultimate expression of driving excitement. Nailing the AMG colours to the EV mast is a challenge, and thoroughly executed as it is, as an AMG machine it does not fully hit the mark.