All-American: Road Trip

The United States is perhaps the best country for road trips and we never tire of taking to the road whenever we are on that continent. So it does not come asa Surprise that we hit the road again but this time around it was for a road trip with a difference! No stops at fuel stations as we have with us two electric cars that have already been launched in India. Join Yogendra Pratap as he and two fellow World Car Awards jurors explore California with the Mercedes-Benz EQS and EQB electric cars

- Yogendra Pratap

We are just about seeing the dawn of the electric age in India over the last couple of years with luxury car manufacturers like Mercedes taking the lead and launching not one or two but three electric cars in the country, with plans for a few more.

While electric infrastructure for cross-country trips is just coming up in our country we decided to take two of the Mercedes electric cars that have already been launched in India across California, the state that has been leading the charge for zero emission vehicles in the US.

THE CARS

First up was the Mercedes EQS 580 that is available in India for Rs 1.55 crore and is powered by 2 motors, one on each axle generating total combined maximum power of 516bhp and peak torque of 855Nm and is good for a top speed of 210kmph - much higher than anything we would get a chance of getting to. What was crucial for the road trip is that it has a certified range of 676km (WLTP), has a 107.8kW battery pack and supports DC fast charging of up to 200kW. This in theory means that if we get a 200kW or higher charger, the EQS 580 could be charged to full in just over half an hour. Of course that is only in theory. In practice, it takes time for charging to build up to the highest power that both the car and the charger support and the most effective period for fast charging is between 10 and 80 per cent. However our charging fate was in the hands of the other car.

That was the EQB 350 4MATIC. While the car available for purchase in India is the EQB 300, we had the slightly more powerful version of the electric SUV with us for the #EQAdventure. With 288bhp of max power and 520Nm of peak torque, it has a range of 412km (WLTP) and that is the same as the EQB 300 as well.

However maximum power it can take is 100kW from a DC fast charger and it has a 66kW battery and that would, in theory mean that it could be charged to 100 per cent in just 40 minutes.