AMG Unleashes Its Latest Offerings: A Pair of Electric Performance EQE Saloons

Mercedes-AMG has revealed its latest performance car, apparently inspired by an inspirational meme, as it is the only AMG currently giving “110 per cent”.

The Mercedes- AMG EQE 53 4MATIC+ is a roundabout way of describing something that only needs two words: the electric super saloon. Choose one of these AMG hyperdrives with the ‘Dynamic Plus Package‘, switch it to ‘Race Start’ mode with the ‘Boost Function’, and you have 678 hp and 0-62 km/h acceleration in 3.3 seconds. Just like the Audi RS e-Tron GT.

Is that a… deafening silence we perceive there? After all, AMG’s unique selling point has always been a fire-breathing V8, and yet this company, known for its sideways movement, is fully committed to forwarding motion. Not least because the new EQE 53+ is a more petite 469 hp EQE 43 sibling – both come with all-wheel drive.

Two electric motors – one on each axle – are installed on the EQE’s “EVA2” platform, specially adapted to AMG’s requirements. In technical terms, this means “adapted windings and laminations, higher currents and a special inverter”. The rear motor gets a six-phase design, and we are assured that both have a “highly resilient thermal concept” that allows for repeated antics.

The pair is powered by the EQE’s 90.6 kWh motor, which gets a certain amount of power depending on the driving mode selected. For example, ‘Slippery’ and ‘Comfort’ limit ability to 50 and 80 per cent respectively, ‘Sport’ gets 90 per cent of the power, while only ‘Sport+’ and ‘Race Start’ benefit from the entire 100 per cent. ‘Race Start’ with all the trimmings gets 110 per cent of course.

As mentioned earlier, the 53+ with the Dynamic package manages the sprint from 0 to 62 km/h in 3.3 seconds, while the regular 53 does it in 3.5 seconds. The entry-level AMG EQE 43 has to settle for 0-62 mph in 4.2 seconds. Top speed? 130 mph for the 43, 136 mph for the 53 and just under 150 mph for the 53 with the extras.

So, enough of the numbers. The EQE AMG gets AMG’s adaptive damping and AMG-specific wheel carriers, suspension links and stiffer anti-roll bars. According to AMG, this setup is essentially the same as that of the AMG EQS and the AMG GT Four-Door Coupe. The dampers themselves have been tuned for good ride comfort and driving dynamics, and both vehicles also have rear-axle steering.

Brakes? There are, and they are huge. 415mm/378mm discs front and rear, and of course, AMG offers even larger ceramic brakes as an option. There’s an ‘i-Booster’, which is not an iPhone charger, but a system that better combines hydraulic and electric recuperation. It should feel like a proper set of AMG brakes.

It probably will not sound like a proper AMG, though, at least not in the way you are used to. Like its big brother AMG EQS, the fast EQE comes with artificial noises, although we are promised the traditional AMG sound in the “authentic” noise setting. Other sounds are “balanced”, “sporty”, and “powerful”, and because we are childish, we imagine a “vroom vroom” sound embedded in its intricate architecture.

Speaking of architecture, the EQE’s body has been AMGified with a new black grille, body-coloured bumper, new front apron and splitter, new sills, new rear diffuser and rear apron, and AMG alloy wheels. Of course, everything has been optimised for aerodynamics because of RANGE.

The interior benefits from AMG seats, lots of badging, pedals, floor mats, red stitching and an AMG performance steering wheel. Also available as an option is Merc‘s gigantic “Hyperscreen”, a display that extends across the vehicle’s entire width.

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According to The Boss, we will soon see a standalone AMG electric car. “With two new models, we are expanding our range of purely electrically powered performance vehicles and thus addressing additional target groups,” said Philipp Schiemer, head of AMG.

“And this is not the end of our Future of Driving Performance: after performance hybrids and all-electric AMG derivatives based on EVA2, standalone AMG electric vehicles will follow in the not-too-distant future. These will be based on AMG.EA, our new, completely self-developed platform,” he added.