Mercedes’ massive EV push: Tesla-topping EQS confirmed for 2021, one of six new EVs coming soon

Mercedes-Benz is set to take a massive leap into electrification, confirming its EQS will launch in 2021 as just one of six new EVs coming soon. 

Considered the EV answer to the flagship S-Class, the EQS is the first model in the Benz family to ride on the brand’s new electric architecture, which can be scaled to underpin everything from full-size sedans to smaller SUVs, and fitted with varying battery capacities and motors. 

It’s this architecture that will spearhead the brand’s most significant EV push to date, with the platform to underpin a host of new electric vehicles, including the EQS, EQS SUV, EQE and EQE SUV.

While the EQS is the first of those to arrive, the brand says production will begin on the more affordable EQA – which is based on the GLA SUV – before the end of the year, with the EQB will follow in 2021. Both will ride on the same, if modified, platforms as their ICE-powered siblings, with Mercedes saying it will also continue the strategy begun with the EQC of “continuing to electrify the most successful platforms”.

While we’re still waiting to see the production version of the EQS, which was revealed in concept form at the Frankfurt Motor Show in 2019, some details have begun to emerge, like the fact the luxe limo will deliver a Tesla-topping 700km-plus driving range.

“The EQS will set new standards. More than 700 kilometres of driving range according to WLTP. That’s how far it can go on one battery charge,” says Mercedes-Benz chairman of the board of management, Ola Kallenius.

The still-camouflaged EQS prototypes are now undergoing final testing ahead of a production launch, including cold-weather testing in Scandinavia, high-speed track evaluations and real-world testing in China, the USA, Europe and South Africa.

“The EQS has already piled up far more than two million test kilometres from the heat of South Africa to the cold of Northern Sweden”, says Christoph Starzynski, vice-president of electric vehicle architecture at Mercedes-Benz.

“There were quite a few tests specifically for electric cars that cover important development priorities such as range, charging and efficiency”.