• Price as tested: $191,900 plus on-road costs
  • Distance travelled: 375km
  • Power usage: 23.7kWh/100km

Having lived in Sydney and Melbourne my whole life I now call Tasmania home – at least that’s where I try to spend most of my time. It’s worth noting that Tassie is a relativity small place. Hobart to Devonport (where the Spirt of Tasmania docks) is a 285km drive and takes a little over three hours to complete. Much the same as Sydney to Canberra.

Why do I mention that? I believe EVs make a lot of sense, but only if you also have a non-EV in the garage for longer trips. Nothing in Tasmania can really be considered a long trip. Tasmania is different. No exact science to this, but the place is only 270km long and 320km wide. If you leave home with a full tank, or in an EV’s case, a full charge, there’s not many places you can even go that will require a scheduled charge along the way.

So it’s feasible to drive around the island in an EV. Perhaps Mercedes-Benz were keen to find out by using me as a guinea pig, so enter the Mercedes-AMG EQE 53 4MATIC+ SUV. If you want to go eco warrior on the matter of transport (I don’t), it kind of makes sense too, because down here – while it can get a little cold – the sun is always biting and solar is a big thing. With at-home charging fed directly by a roof that’s more solar panels than tiles, the EQE won’t ever see a public charging station and to me that’s the whole point of an EV.

With a 90.6kWh battery and dual-motor all-wheel drive powertrain, the EQE 53 produces healthy power figures of 460kW and 950Nm, more than enough grunt as standard. Deciding those figures simply aren’t good enough, my EQE 53 has the optional AMG Dynamic Plus Package, which increases those outputs to 505kW and 1000Nm. That’s 153kW and 423Nm more than a Ferrari F40…

The EQE 53 has a claimed range of 485km but range isn’t something that bothers me here – I’m not a big believer in travelling great distances that require a stop at a charging station. I’m lucky to do close to 250kms of travel in a week so that’s close to two full weeks between the need for charging anyway.

Interior wise I’m sure it’s a pretty standard AMG SUV, but I haven’t noticed any of that because my EQE is fitted with the Hyperscreen, a dash display significantly larger than any TV I grew up with as a kid. Given it’s the full width of the interior, it’s the first thing that passengers notice and it’s the last thing they remember. I’ll go into that more next month because it really is something quite extraordinary.

The thing I find amazing about driving any EV is how quickly you adapt to what is a rather different driving experience. Not acceleration, but braking. You simple adapt to not using brakes at all unless you turn the regenerative braking off all together. There are four regen modes to select from here: None, Moderate, Strong (as in, so strong that it’s like hitting the brakes quite hard as soon as you take your foot off the accelerator) and Intelligent.

I’ve simply been selecting ‘Intelligent’ mode wherever I go, not from any form of research, just blind
belief that German engineers wouldn’t have called it that if it weren’t the best mode to be in. And it seems to work.

One of my first drives in the EQE 53 was to the top of Mt Wellington/Kunanyi. A short 30-minute drive and exactly 21km from my front door. It’s a steep incline the whole way – and even with all that torque on tap you can feel the weight.

The battery loses significant range on the incline… but in reverse, regains around one-fifth of that back on the way back down due to regenerative braking.

Sadly I never flew Concorde, but thanks to the EQE’s rapid acceleration (0-100/km/h in an absurd 3.4 seconds) I think I have an idea of what it felt like when the afterburners kicked in. That acceleration is made more impressive by the EQE’s rather significant 2678 kg curb weight.

Let’s keep talking about that acceleration for now, as I want to get it out of the way then never talk about it again. Most EVs are quick, stupid quick in fact, however once you’ve experienced that 0-100/km/h and beyond sensation a couple of times – and readjusted your stomach to suit – that thrill is over. It becomes a non-event, because there really isn’t any skill involved. Sadly I suspect it’s also an age thing – thrashing a car left my system quite a few years ago, now only reserved for cars that were designed for it. Whatever the answer, I can count on one hand the amount of times I’ve actually ‘taken off’ in the EQE 53 in launch mode. All you need to know is its plenty quick enough and I haven’t lost a single drag race at the lights yet.

For travelling in comfort, nothing really compares to the EQE 53 in the EV market. It doesn’t float on the road – at 2,678 kg that’s simply not possible – it somehow just absorbs whatever it hits. In fact, the ride is great, given the enormous 22-inch wheels and minimal rubber fitted.

By and large the roads in Tasmania are great – but they are rough on tyres creating significant road noise inside the cabin of pretty much every car I’ve driven down here. Not the EQE 53. Would be a lie to say its whisper quiet but it’s still the quietest car I’ve even driven.

Over the next few months I’ll make sure the EQE 53 is put to the test in and around my island home – so let me know if there is anything you want me to find out. Just don’t ask me to go to a charging station.

This article originally appeared in the Garage section of the May 2025 issue of Wheels – subscribe here.