When Mercedes launched the EQS in 2021, the message was simple: going electric didn’t have to mean giving anything up. The panoramic Hyperscreen, the slippery Cd 0.20 body, and the class-leading range all made for a compelling package. But the EV landscape moves at blistering speed. So Mercedes responds with a ground-up technical overhaul that puts its flagship EQS firmly back at the front.
The headline upgrade sits beneath the floor. The revised EVA2 platform now operates at 800 volts, up from 400 V, pushing peak DC charging capacity to 350 kW. That translates to roughly 320 WLTP kilometers recovered in just ten minutes at a compatible fast charger.
Reignited range war
At conventional 400 V stations, the battery pack is split into two halves and charged at up to 175 kW. It’s an elegant engineering workaround that keeps the EQS broadly usable across Europe’s still-mixed charging infrastructure. V2H and V2G bidirectional charging are standard across the range.
The battery itself grows modestly, from 118 kWh to 122 kWh of usable capacity. The real gains come from inside the cells: silicon oxide-blended anodes improve energy density without adding bulk.
Combined with a new two-speed rear gearbox (the first ratio serves brisk acceleration, the second frugal highway cruising), the result is a WLTP range of 925 kilometers for the rear-wheel-drive EQS 450+.
That’s a 13 percent improvement (up from 818 kilometers) over its predecessor, and currently the highest official range figure of any production EV on the European market.
New entry model
Four-wheel-drive buyers can opt for the EQS 500 4Matic or EQS 580 4Matic, both equipped with the 122 kWh battery pack and rated for 876 WLTP kilometers. The 580 4Matic deploys 430 kW and dispatches the 0-100 km/h sprint in 4.1 seconds.
A new entry-level EQS 400, fitted with a 112 kWh battery and 270 kW motor, rounds out the range below the 450+. It still fetches 817 kilometers on a single charge.
As regenerative braking capacity has climbed to 385 kW (a 33 percent increase), Mercedes claims the system now handles 99 percent of all braking situations without touching the disc brakes.
The steering wheel no longer turns the wheels
The boldest innovation is optional, but structurally significant. The refreshed EQS is available with steer-by-wire, making Mercedes the first German manufacturer to offer the technology in a series-production car.
This means that the mechanical link between the steering wheel and the front axle is gone entirely, replaced by two digital signal paths. The result is a yoke-style steering wheel with a 4:1 ratio at low speeds, compared to the conventional 14:1, meaning a full U-turn requires no hand-over-hand repositioning.
The rear axle steering angle simultaneously increases from 4.5 to 10 degrees, significantly tightening the turning circle despite the EQS’s considerable footprint.
Drivers who prefer a traditional feel can still order conventional electromechanical steering, or opt for the 10-degree rear steering alone, without the steer-by-wire system. Customer choice, in other words, is still a core part of the package.
AI on board
The refreshed EQS is also the first Mercedes to arrive fully mature on the new MB.OS operating system. This centralized software platform handles nearly every vehicle function and supports over-the-air updates throughout the car’s life.
The MBUX Hyperscreen now runs on MB.OS with a significantly more capable AI assistant that integrates ChatGPT, Microsoft Bing, and Google Gemini for multi-step conversational queries.
As for looks, it remains a single slab of glass housing integrating a 12.3-inch driver display, a 17.7-inch central touchscreen, and a 12.3-inch passenger screen. Google Maps uses 3D mapping for navigation. For route and charging calculations, it accounts for wind, elevation, traffic, and charging stop data.
As seen on the S-Class and GLS, the Airmatic air suspension now features cloud-based damper control. Via Car-to-X communication with other Mercedes vehicles, the EQS ‘downloads’ speed bumps or potholes ahead before the wheels arrive, and pre-adjusts the dampers accordingly.
Twenty-seven sensors feed the suite of driver assistance systems. Automated parking now operates at up to 5 km/h – twice the previous speed – and diagonal parking spaces are newly supported.
Seatbelt warming
The cabin’s most charming detail is also borrowed from the new S-Class: heated seatbelts, with fine metal threads warming the belt webbing to up to 44 degrees Celsius, making a persuasive case against bulky winter coats on cold mornings.
Externally, the redesign is debatable. The new front bumper features a grille that oddly nods to combustion-engine technology. And at the rear, a spiral LED element spans the full width, as if a three-year-old toddler had scribbled the pattern. It shouldn’t hide the impressive technology it houses.
The Digital Light system improves its field of view by 40 percent and cuts energy consumption by 50 percent. The Ultra Range high beam throws light out to 600 meters, which is more than a football field.
Mercedes might be facing tough times financially, but the technological prowess that has shaped this facelift leaves no clues to that.
