Reporter | Zhou Chunliang
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The flagship electric sedan EQS of the Mercedes-Benz brand was recently listed, and the price of 1.0796 million yuan to 1.5175 million yuan has made the outside world quite critical - why does an electric vehicle with a structure far simpler than a fuel vehicle sell so much more expensive than the Mercedes-Benz S-Class?
Some insiders joke that this is like the valuation of technology companies is higher than that of traditional car companies, so it seems reasonable that smart electric vehicles sell more expensive than fuel vehicles.
Although this is just a joke, it is enough to indicate a phenomenon. The outside world has a mature pricing strategy for the technological content, brand premium and performance difference of fuel vehicles, and the current value judgment of electric vehicles is obviously not mature.
Putting aside these outside discussions, what kind of car is the EQS, and can it assume the title of "S-Class in Electric Vehicles"? Its product characteristics reflect Mercedes-Benz's attitude towards electrification. With these questions, Interface Auto recently conducted a test drive on this car.
According to the number of motors, EQS is divided into 580 tail markers and 450+ tail markers, the former is a dual motor, that is, a four-wheel drive model; the latter is a single motor, that is, a rear-drive model. We got a test drive in the EQS 450+ single motor version.
Before driving it, I read all the reviews of the car by KOLs in the industry. They had mixed reviews of the car's appearance. But one thing seems to be recognized - the arched body line of the EQS, although quite technological and futuristic, seems to lack a sense of beauty and dignity.
The front cover is shorter, very different from the extra-long engine compartment of a traditional fuel luxury car. The tail slip line also occupies a lot of space for trunk lines. The car looks more like a "hatchback". There are also many video barrages that complain that "this is not as good as our new car-making forces."
In my opinion, this is related to the original intention of the company to deal with electrification.
Thanks to designs such as the bowed body and the star curved panel in the middle of the front of the car, the EQS has a drag coefficient of only 0.20Cd, which goes without saying "almost", but "it is" the ceiling in the production car.
Why would you rather sacrifice some so-called sharp, cool, and combat sense to achieve the ultimate aerodynamic performance? Because Mercedes-Benz is really transforming with the concept of "sustainable development".
As we all know, low wind resistance means low energy consumption, which means that traveling the same distance consumes less energy on the earth.
And an extremely cool combat model electric car, if it does not really carve the concept of low carbon and energy saving into its genes, then it is ultimately just a new era ghost fire teenager toy cloaked in environmental protection.
Not only that, but as many as 287 parts of the vehicle use a total of 82.3 kg of recycled materials to carry out the green to the end.
Although the appearance is not so in line with the "noble" sense of mainstream aesthetics, the digital headlights with holographic projection function, a whole curved middle net, and the integrated door frame extending from A-pillar to C-pillar all show its deep accumulation in manufacturing level and technological application.
To evaluate, I think the EQS is a car that "doesn't look good" but "has a clean inside".
The most eye-catching inside must be the HyperScreen that runs through the entire instrument section. Its width reaches 1.41 meters, including three screens: instrument display, central control screen and passenger driver display. The left and right screens are 12.3 inches, and the middle one reaches 17.7 inches. This screen occupies a central place in the interior design, and its vehicle brings a strong sense of the future.
In addition, the lines in the central armrest area of the front row are very sporty, and the lines above the dashboard give a sense of comfort and a sense of home.
The armrest section of the EQS is lower than the general armrest design and has a flow linearity. The design of the air conditioner's main air outlet is inspired by the turbine engine. It's set in this one-piece Hybrid, a testament to the difficulty of manufacturing.
The rear part, which is also the part that a traditional luxury car should focus on, my impression of EQS is that the technology is enough, and there is still room for optimization in comfort.
There are multiple ingenuities in the foldable armrests in the middle of the rear row. It can control the in-car entertainment system through a small pad, and there is also a hidden wireless charging panel for mobile phones in the rear. The top of the armrest has a two-stage feedback function, which is used to eject a small part of the phone with one click, and the rear cup holder can be ejected by pressing again.
Thanks to the wheelbase of 3 meters 2, the rear space is not small, and the sense of high quality of the material and the support of the cushion cannot be criticized, but the fly in the ointment is that its thigh support is too short, making a small leg empty. In this regard, the EQS's care for rear-seat ride comfort is a certain gap with the Mercedes-Benz S-Class.
In terms of driving, due to the torque characteristics of the electric motor, the acceleration of electric vehicles has never been a problem. The difficulty is how to achieve speed while making the user feel comfortable. EQS engineers put this in place.
Correspondingly, the braking system of EQS is also very sophisticated. Press down on the brake pedal, the initial section is energy recovery braking, and the deep pedal is mechanical braking. This makes the user operation redundant. As long as it is not deliberately open and closed driving, everyone can achieve the calm driving posture of the old driver.
But that's not to say that EQS doesn't have a radical side. After adjusting the Dynamic button in the middle armrest area to Sport mode, even if it is already cruising at a cruising speed of more than 100km/h, it can still give the feeling of kicking back like the moment when starting, and the strong power reserve makes it a big gap with most of the "fast start but extremely low speed" electric vehicles. It fully interprets the phrase "horsepower can be used, but not without".
In terms of driving texture, Mercedes-Benz's new EQS series comes standard with airmatic air suspension with continuous variable damping. When the speed of the vehicle exceeds 120km/h, the height of the body drops by 20mm, thereby reducing wind resistance, bringing longer endurance and more stable handling; the speed is less than 40km/h, and the body can be raised by 25mm to cope with complex road conditions.
Continuously variable damping also gives the car excellent filtration of road conditions. The dull sound of passing through the ditch represents its strong resilience, while the slight amplitude of the non-arrogant is the unique sense of stability brought by the 2.4-ton large luxury sedan.
Intelligence is one of the highlights of EQS. In addition to the adaptive cruise, lane keeping and other familiar functions, the navigation function of this car can finally reach the level of allowing users to lose their mobile phones.
Not only can the accuracy be accurate to the lane level, but also at each intersection that needs to turn, the real scene navigation method of real scene plus arrow will be used to give guidance, the closer to the intersection, the greater the arrow deflection, which makes the road fool no longer confused at the complex intersection.
Driving into the underground garage or driving at night, the personality of the EQS will undergo a major transformation, becoming beautiful under the haunting of the mood lights.
Returning to the question at the beginning, can EQS be called the S Class in electric vehicles? This question may be answered in two ways.
On the one hand, it is somewhat unfair to benchmark it with the benchmark of the fuel flagship sedan. Compared with 136 years of experience in building fuel vehicles, the industry's technical accumulation of pure electric vehicles does not exceed 10 years. Therefore, objectively speaking, there is still a gap between EQS and its own S-class in the creation of luxurious texture.
But on the other hand, this does not prevent it from still setting a benchmark for the current luxury large electric car.