Mercedes-Benz EQE arrives next year as the electric alternative to the E-class

05 September 2021

Back in April Mercedes-Benz officially presented the EQS, the electric alternative to the S-class. Today the company has basically done the same thing, just for the E-class. Meet the brand new EQE.

This is a "business saloon" according to Mercedes, and like the EQS it's also based on its "premium-class electric architecture" known as EVA2. The EQE will launch globally, although in a staggered manner, in mid-2022. It will be made in Bremen, Germany for all markets except China (where it's made at a local Beijing facility).

The EQE has a wheelbase that is 9cm (3.5 inches) shorter than the EQS, thus in terms of external dimensions being comparable to the CLS. It measures 4946 mm (194.72 inches) in length, 1961 mm (77.2 inches) in width, and 1512 mm (59.52 inches) in height globally, while in the USA it will have the same width but 4995 mm (196.65 inches) length and 1513 mm (59.56 inches) height for some reason. In all cases the wheelbase is 3120 mm (122.83 inches). The boot/trunk has a capacity of 430l (15.18 cubic feet).

That said, on the inside there's a lot more room compared to the latest E-class, while the design is clearly inspired by that of the EQS, with the MBUX "Hyperscreen" (although it's an optional extra). The MBUX system has 8 CPU cores, 24GB of RAM, and 46.4 GBps memory bandwidth to work with.

At launch there will be two versions of the EQE. The EQE 350 with rear wheel drive will develop 215 kW (288 hp) and 530 Nm of torque. The second model hasn't been detailed yet, but in the future expect performance variants with around 500 kW (670 hp) and all-wheel drive to also make an appearance.

The battery has a usable energy content of 90 kWh, and Mercedes says this will be good for 545 to 660 km (338 to 410 miles) of range in the WLTP cycle. In 15 minutes you can charge the car enough for up to 250 km (155 miles) of WLTP range, at the maximum 170 kW DC charging capacity. For AC you get an 11 kW on-board charger, and can purchase a 22 kW one as an option. At the fastest DC charger supported, going from 10% to 80% takes 32 minutes.

There will be three manually selectable stages of regenerative braking, which Mercedes calls D, D+, and D-, alongside a D Auto. As standard, the EQE has four-link front suspension and multilink rear suspension, but you can pay more for air suspension with adaptive damping. Rear-axle steering is also an optional extra.