Mercedes steps up to the Tesla challenge

A new electric model has all the virtues you’d expect from the luxury carmaker. Jasper Spires reports

It is becoming all but inevitable that everyone’s next (or next but one) new car will be electric, says Colin Overland in Car magazine. The Mercedes-Benz E-Class is looking increasingly like the most tempting option. The fully electric model, the EQE, is fast and supremely enjoyable to drive – “a roomy, comfortable car that dials down the ‘look at me!’ flamboyance and overkill tech” of other Merc models to offer “what Mercedes has always done best: put you in safe hands”. The EQE is cheaper than a Tesla Model S, yet slicker and more luxurious – it is “an excellent electric evolution of timeless E-Class virtues”.

The EQE 350+ model has a 90.6kWh battery that charges from 10% to 80% in around 35 minutes, and powers a 288bhp electric motor, delivering a top speed of 130mph, 0-62mph time of 6.4 seconds, and a 410-mile range. “As those performance figures suggest, the EQE can’t match the blisteringly fast acceleration familiar to Tesla owners, but overall it feels like Mercedes’ engineers have focused more on making this a comfortable and refined car to drive, rather than a cornercarving sports saloon,” says DrivingElectric.

It’s the handling that really matters here. “With the EQE, the name of the game is refinement. Prod the throttle and the EQE glides forward in a surprisingly undramatic fashion – it doesn’t pin the driver in their seat like a BMW i40 M50, Porsche Taycan or Tesla Model S, for example,” says James Batchelor for Car Dealer.

Once on the move, “there are almost eerie levels of silence with barely any wind noise, even at motorway speeds, and there’s a complete absence of whine from the electric motor. Only the roar from the 20-inch alloys and low-profile tyres interrupts the silence, and even then it’s slight”. Supported by a navigation system that will slow the car automatically when driving through the city and a Sport setting for higher speeds, “the EQE is impressively agile for such a large and heavy car and the steering is surprisingly sharp… ultimately a very luxurious cruiser”.

It’s well equipped too, with leather upholstery, a panoramic sunroof, flush-fitting door handles, a fingerprint scanner and active park assist, says Ben Custard in Car Buyer. Overall, says Sam Naylor in AutoExpress, it “feels cutting-edge”. £76,450, Mercedes.com

“There are almost eerie levels of silence with barely any wind noise, even at high speed”