Mercedes-Benz EQS will charge faster than Tesla’s Model S Plaid

The Mercedes-Benz EQS electric sedan is expected in 2022. When it shows up, all eyes will be on it as comparisons with other offerings in its class will be all too natural.

The first one it will be measured against is the Tesla Model S Plaid. We'll have the opportunity to play several comparative games in due course, but already we have a first indication of what the EQS sedan has in store, this time in terms of charging.

In fact, in tests conducted to demonstrate its charging capabilities, it was more efficient than the Plaid version of the Tesla Model S.

In absolute time, it takes only 25 minutes to go from 20% to 80% of its capacity, two minutes less than the Tesla. For a jump from 10% to 80%, it takes 27 minutes. For 4% to 80%, which was done in the test, it took only 31 minutes.

And how does it manage this feat, despite a maximum power announced of 200 kW compared to 250 kW for the Tesla? Well, it's because it reaches its maximum capacity as soon as it's plugged in. It even exceeds it, as its peak was 207 kW. So it quickly stores energy.

Up to 20% recovery for the car, it maintains a very strong power that it then sees decrease. At 80% capacity, the power is 115 kW. On average, 155 kW are deployed during the charging time.

With the Tesla Model S Plaid, the 250 kW capacity is reached at the beginning, but when the car has recovered about 42% of its charge, the power used is less than with Mercedes. At the end of the exercise, Tesla's average is 130 kW.

This is a first concrete advantage for the EQS. What we can't wait to know exactly is its autonomy. The latter was announced at 770 km on the European cycle, but we know that it is always less on this side of the Atlantic Ocean. We anticipate something around 600 km.

It's going to be an interesting battle between the two cars.