Electrical Mercedes AMG EQE53 vs. Tesla — Proprietor Comparability & Evaluate – CleanTechnica Get hold of US

Over a espresso on the Coochin Creek high-speed chargers, Rick instructed me why he purchased an electrical Mercedes AMG EQE53. “We had a Plaid Mannequin X (and a base Mannequin Y) on order when Tesla determined to not make RHD S & X. I used to be within the US on the time and started high-end alternate options to buy after we returned to Australia. I drove many of the German choices accessible right here together with Porsche, BMW, Mercedes & Audi. Of them, Mercedes had the very best attributes for me. I didn’t just like the BMW’s design or person expertise, the Porsche’s two-speed gearbox drove me a bit nuts with its hesitation, and the Audi was simply bland. All of the US sellers had been truly fairly useful regardless that they couldn’t promote me a automobile.”

Rick and his spouse picked up their new EVs after they returned to dwell on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast after a few years in Texas. With a world profession as a administration marketing consultant to the power sector (renewable and fossil fuels), Rick can base himself wherever after which journey as wants be. His Australian spouse is pleased to be house. Rick specialises in retaining corporations alive in adversarial financial circumstances reminiscent of when authorities coverage modifications. The power business has seen an excessive amount of this.

Within the US, Rick was based mostly in Texas and mentioned lots of his fellow Texans had been shopping for EVs, to not mitigate world local weather change however as a result of the air high quality, notably in Dallas/Fort Price, was poor. EV penetration has doubled in Texas prior to now 2 years in an effort to scale back the pollution from tailpipe emissions that get trapped by the warmth, humidity, and topography of the realm. Respiratory is essential to individuals. (And, additionally, EVs are enjoyable and funky.)

“The electrical Mercedes EQE begins round $140,000 AUD. Pricing is ready by Mercedes-Benz Australia and you should buy the automobile both on-line or in-store. I purchased on-line and that have is about the identical as Tesla — besides you typically don’t construct the automobile — you decide from the nationwide stock and take supply on the retailer you select. I chosen the Mercedes-AMG EQE53, which is the efficiency mannequin. Its pricing is round $240,000 AUD. The Mannequin X Plaid was going to be $250,000 AUD.”

Rick’s electric Mercedes and my Tesla Model 3. Photo courtesy of Majella Waterworth. " data-medium-file="https://cleantechnica.com/files/2023/10/MB-T3-e1699013134914-400x205.jpg" data-large-file="https://cleantechnica.com/files/2023/10/MB-T3-e1699013134914-800x410.jpg" class="wp-image-309967 size-full" fifu-data-src="https://i0.wp.com/cleantechnica.com/files/2023/10/MB-T3-e1699013134914.jpg?ssl=1" alt="Electric Mercedes" width="1422" height="729" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/cleantechnica.com/files/2023/10/MB-T3-e1699013134914.jpg?ssl=1 1422w, https://cleantechnica.com/files/2023/10/MB-T3-e1699013134914-400x205.jpg 400w, https://cleantechnica.com/files/2023/10/MB-T3-e1699013134914-800x410.jpg 800w, https://cleantechnica.com/files/2023/10/MB-T3-e1699013134914-768x394.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1422px) 100vw, 1422px"/>

Rick’s electrical Mercedes and my Tesla Mannequin 3. Photograph courtesy of Majella Waterworth.

So, the Tesla Mannequin X Plaid and the Mercedes-Benz EQE53 have comparable pricing. “For the additional $100K price of the EQE53, you get the entire choices accessible in Australia, together with the huge side-to-side three-screen Hyperscreen, bigger motors that produce a 0-100 km/h of three.3 seconds and another AMG-exclusive trim & software program.” I need to admit, once I sat within the absolute luxurious of the Mercedes-Benz this morning after which moved to my Tesla Mannequin 3, it regarded poverty affected by comparability. The sprint made me really feel like I used to be in an iMax theatre. The match and end had been top-shelf Mercedes-Benz.

“The vary on the bottom electrical Mercedes mannequin is claimed at 600+ km. On the all-wheel drive fashions, they declare 500 km on the 90kWh battery. I feel real-world vary is nearer to 430 km. In 2024, the entrance motor design has modified to present all EQEs the claimed 600+ km mileage.”

Rick prices his Mercedes-Benz EQE53 and Tesla Mannequin Y at house in Australia from a gen-3 Tesla vacation spot charger. He tells me that: “Within the US, Tesla principally has the one dependable nationwide charging community and we’ve carried out a number of 100,000 km of cross-country driving in our Tesla utilizing Superchargers with occasional use at Electrify America and different DCFC networks. It’s apparent why North America has adopted NACS. In Australia, the story is completely different. The Tesla community is superior, however solely marginally so and we’ve turned to all the time utilizing PlugShare to take a look at different choices after we’re driving the Mannequin Y. Anyway, the Mercedes navigation and charging system is superb. It plans for charging on the route and considers all accessible charging choices prioritizing by cost velocity, distance off route and present availability to reduce charging time. The automobile prices at a max velocity of 170 kW and takes half-hour to go from 10–80%.”

Charging the Mercedes and the Y. Photo courtesy Rick Bollar. " data-medium-file="https://cleantechnica.com/files/2023/10/IMG_4434-rotated-e1699014338828-400x244.jpeg" data-large-file="https://i3.wp.com/cleantechnica.com/files/2023/10/IMG_4434-rotated-e1699014338828.jpeg?ssl=1" class="wp-image-309971 size-full" fifu-data-src="https://i3.wp.com/cleantechnica.com/files/2023/10/IMG_4434-rotated-e1699014338828.jpeg?ssl=1" alt="Electric Mercedes" width="622" height="379" srcset="https://i3.wp.com/cleantechnica.com/files/2023/10/IMG_4434-rotated-e1699014338828.jpeg?ssl=1 622w, https://cleantechnica.com/files/2023/10/IMG_4434-rotated-e1699014338828-400x244.jpeg 400w" sizes="(max-width: 622px) 100vw, 622px"/>

Charging the Mercedes and the Y. Photograph courtesy of Rick Bollar.

The Mercedes-Benz supply expertise was a bit completely different to that offered by Tesla: “We selected supply at Mercedes-Benz Sunshine Coast in Maroochydore. We had been assigned Klarah Cassar-Tan to handle the supply. She did an incredible job answering our questions and retaining us up-to-date as we waited for the automobile to clear customs & biosecurity in Sydney. It arrived at Maroochydore, Queensland in late-July and we had what I consider as a typical high-end automobile supply expertise. We had about an hour on the retailer going by the options with Klarah earlier than lastly setting off on our personal. The Mannequin Y was delivered in Brisbane every week later and was a primary expertise — we acquired pleasant assist pairing our telephones to the automobile, acquired a couple of questions answered, and we had been on our method.

“The electrical Mercedes EQE is a heavy automobile (2500 kg) with shocking energy, nice suspension and a really positive really feel in any circumstances. I get pleasure from driving it as a lot as our first Tesla, a 2012 P85 that we purchased utilized in 2014, however to make certain the Mercedes has what I consider as superior construct high quality & supplies. The seat consolation is extra to my liking and it may possibly cool the seat, which is superior! It’s quiet, doesn’t have any rattles, and provides a superb expertise whether or not driving for enjoyable or commuting. The Mannequin Y has the very best construct high quality of any Tesla we’ve owned because the unique P85. It feels stable.

“The Mercedes MBUX (Mercedes Benz Consumer Expertise) is a very completely different philosophy than Tesla. There are many buttons, all designed to assist the driving force hold palms on wheel and eyes on highway. Most options may be carried out both with the buttons and the remaining by the voice assistant. However to make certain, it’s a really completely different expertise than Tesla. After nearly ten years of largely driving Teslas, it took a couple of hours sitting with the automobile to search out all of the settings and get them configured the way in which I would like. On prime of that, the screens in entrance of the driving force in addition to the head-up show may be custom-made for the present driving want, whether or not that’s navigation, choosing music or wanting on the automobile’s telemetry. Oh, and there’s CarPlay & Android Auto which can be nicely built-in and primarily keep within the background except you want them. You should utilize the Mercedes navigation system or Apple’s (or Waze for that matter) and the automobile shows any of them correctly. I like having the ability to use the Zoom app for my convention calls and to have the ability to management them with out having to the touch my cellphone.”

“The Mercedes has a plethora of driver help options, from collision avoidance, to adaptive cruise management that works in stop-and-go site visitors, to parking house monitoring & parking help. All of them work nicely & some are superior to Tesla’s system — specifically, there are fewer false alerts in cruise management. It doesn’t have something like FSD. I’ve about 60K km expertise with FSD beta within the US and I miss a few of that performance, particularly on the freeway, the place I discovered the system rock-solid other than the occasional false alerts. Apart from demoing the system, I by no means used FSD on metropolis streets, because it was principally unusable with out fixed intervention.”

Hyperscreen won’t fit in one photo! Photo courtesy Majella Waterworth " data-medium-file="https://cleantechnica.com/files/2023/10/MB-dash-400x300.jpg" data-large-file="https://cleantechnica.com/files/2023/10/MB-dash-800x600.jpg" class="wp-image-309970 size-full" fifu-data-src="https://i3.wp.com/cleantechnica.com/files/2023/10/MB-dash-scaled.jpg?ssl=1" alt="Electric Mercedes" width="2560" height="1920" srcset="https://i3.wp.com/cleantechnica.com/files/2023/10/MB-dash-scaled.jpg?ssl=1 2560w, https://cleantechnica.com/files/2023/10/MB-dash-400x300.jpg 400w, https://cleantechnica.com/files/2023/10/MB-dash-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cleantechnica.com/files/2023/10/MB-dash-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cleantechnica.com/files/2023/10/MB-dash-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cleantechnica.com/files/2023/10/MB-dash-2048x1536.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px"/>

Hyperscreen received’t slot in one picture! Photograph courtesy of Majella Waterworth.

The Mercedes-Benz and Tesla apps provide related performance. The electrical Mercedes has a spread map that estimates how far the automobile can journey on its present cost. “The EQE has a five-star Euro NCAP score and scores proper behind Tesla Mannequin Y & S amongst EVs within the total scores. (Fourth place amongst all vehicles. A petroleum-powered Lexus NX snuck into the third spot.)

“I don’t assume many individuals are shopping for the EQE for its environmental credentials, however the automobile does have some attention-grabbing options, together with being constructed from largely recycled steel in a carbon-neutral manufacturing unit. It has loads of leather-based within the increased trim ranges, however material is an non-obligatory materials.”

There are some issues concerning the EQE53 that annoy Rick. He lists the next: “There’s a Begin/Cease button and also you truly have to cease the automobile otherwise you get an alert whenever you attempt to get out. Some software program updates are OTA, however the main ones appear to require service and you may’t simply request them — it’s essential to have a service challenge that requires the improve. There isn’t a frunk (and no HEPA filter, which is ostensibly the rationale for no frunk, nevertheless it’s solely accessible for LHD autos). Obligatory service (no concept what will likely be carried out then). The dashcam must be enabled for every drive. Some options are mysteriously lacking from Australian vehicles (such because the HEPA filter, seat therapeutic massage, a lowered variety of audio system within the sound system, noise discount within the glass together with some on-line companies not provided in Australia). Some components of the UX are designed for LHD vehicles and issues like confirmations and shut containers require a protracted attain to the highest left of the display.”

Once we had the chance to take a seat within the automobile, Majella observed that the one cameras that recorded had been for the ahead dealing with dashcam.

Rick belongs to each the Mercedes-Benz Membership Australia and Tesla Homeowners Membership of Australia teams. “Now we have been to enjoyable native occasions. We haven’t begun bringing the Tesla to Mercedes occasions (or vice versa) but.” He has promised me that he’ll present suggestions of the automobile house owners’ reactions to the electrical Mercedes — I feel that will make an incredible follow-up article.

Rick and Trina are very happy with their EV pair. Photo courtesy Rick Bollar " data-medium-file="https://cleantechnica.com/files/2023/10/IMG_3275-400x300.jpeg" data-large-file="https://i1.wp.com/cleantechnica.com/files/2023/10/IMG_3275.jpeg?ssl=1" class="wp-image-309972 size-full" fifu-data-src="https://i1.wp.com/cleantechnica.com/files/2023/10/IMG_3275.jpeg?ssl=1" alt="Electric Mercedes" width="640" height="480" srcset="https://i1.wp.com/cleantechnica.com/files/2023/10/IMG_3275.jpeg?ssl=1 640w, https://cleantechnica.com/files/2023/10/IMG_3275-400x300.jpeg 400w" sizes="(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px"/>

Rick and Leesa are very pleased with their EV pair. Photograph courtesy of Rick Bollar.

The Sunshine Coast of Queensland with vast open areas and contemporary sea breezes is a far cry from smoggy Dallas–Fort Price. Welcome house, and thanks for lowering your tailpipe emissions!