First Mercedes EQS spotted! I joined in online making fun of its front clip that looks like a Honda Civic, but in the flesh it’s quite nice. Like the Lucid Air (I haven’t seen one of those yet), it’s a big smooth blob for the wealthy ($148,550 for this AMG version ) that don’t want Tesla’s classic Model S sports sedan with way more performance for less money.
I also saw two Rivian R1T big-little trucks, with its cute –0—–0– front. The rEVolution accelerates, but sadly it’s mostly a $45,000 and way up affair.
An underwhelming electric history
In 2011 Mercedes announced the SLS E-Cell, an exciting electric sports car. “E-Cell” was a confusing counterpart to its fantasy of an “F-Cell” fuel cell car. Wikipedia says fewer than 100 were sold, meanwhile Tesla built and sold 2,400 Roadsters.
In 2015 some Mercedes B-Class Electric Drive (87 miles range, not much compared to the Tesla Model S) cars came to California, even though Mercedes didn’t sell the regular B-Class in the USA. There were two in my neighborhood. I think only 4,000 were sold worldwide.
Around 2019 Mercedes converted the GLC to make the EQC, but with fines in Europe for not meeting CO2 targets it never made it to the USA. I think only 700 were sold in 2019.
All this weak effort after Mercedes invested in Tesla in 2009. Its executives surely got to learn about what was coming in the Model S, which has been outperforming its grรถรer engines ever since Tesla put a second motor in the 85D.