Mercedes continues to dribble out details about the 2022 EQS and today they announced the electric vehicle will be launched in August. While the company didn’t go into specifics, the August date likely applies to Europe. However, Americans won’t have to wait long to get their hands on the electric luxury car as Mercedes has previously said it will arrive at U.S. dealerships this fall.
Besides announcing the launch date,
Mercedes revealed an assortment of details about the EQS’ charging features.
The big news is that it will have a Plug & Charge capability, which enables
the vehicle to communicate with charging stations via the charging cable. This
enables charging to start instantly as billing will be automatically handled by
Mercedes me Charge. This makes recharging a breeze as all drivers have to do is
plug-in the car to charge and unplug when finished.
Unfortunately, the Plug & Charge
capability will be limited to Ionity rapid charging stations in Europe and
“selected stations” in the United States at launch. That could change in the
future and Mercedes noted compatibility with Plug & Charge will be shown on
the EQS’ navigation system as well as in the Mercedes me app.
Speaking of charging stations, Mercedes me
Charge is billed as “one of the world’s largest charging networks” as it
consists of 500,000 AC and DC charging points worldwide with over 200,000 in
Europe alone. They’re operated by more than 400 different companies, but they
can be accessed by Mercedes customers who will benefit from an “integrated
payment function with simple billing, after they have registered their payment
method with the Mercedes me charge partner once.”
Last but not least, the EQS will support
bidirectional charging in Japan. This is a cool feature which effectively turns
the EQS into a giant battery that can power your home during an outage or send
electricity back to the electrical grid when demand is high. Unfortunately, it
appears bidirectional charging might be exclusive to Japan as it relies on the
CHAdeMO charging standard.
Mercedes is keeping additional information
under wraps, but the company reiterated the EQS will have a range in excess of
700 km in the WLTP cycle. The model will also be followed by the
EQE as well as crossover versions of the EQE and EQS.