Malaysia’s electric vehicle (EV) market is heating up. You can not only get fully electric cars in Malaysia, but you can also get fully electric motorcycles too these days. Of course, the fact that there are more fast charging stations dedicated for EVs in Malaysia is a large driving factor for manufacturers to buy into Malaysia’s Electric future. It explains why Mercedes-Benz is betting on bringing in their Mercedes-EQ EQE business sedan to the shores.
The Mercedes-Benz EQE is mostly a respond to the response that Mercedes got with their EQS that was launched way before the EQE we see now. Where the EQS is a large SUV for those who value cabin and storage space, the EQE is more of a business sedan made more for style and comfort on the road.
You still get the same underpinning as the EQS, since they are based on the same all-electric Mercedes-EQ architecture. You get a powerful 215kW electric motor powering the rear wheels. You get 565 Nm of tourqe from the motor that allows the Mercedes-Benz EQE to propel its 2.3 tons body from 0-100km/h in 6.4 seconds and up to 210km/h in top speed.
It may not sound like it is all that fast. It makes it up with plenty of range though. A full charge will give you a range of up to 669 km. That is worth nearly a single back and forth trip between Kuala Lumpur and Georgetown, Penang.
With EVs though, there is always a problem of refueling. To be fair, it is more recharging your battery than refueling, and charging your batteries take time. For the Mercedes-Benz EQE, you can charge your car in just 32 minutes with a 170 kW DC charger. If you are not too hard pressed for time, you can charge your car still with a regular wall outlet from your home in 8 hours and 15 minutes.
The Mercedes-Benz EQE comes with a lot of safety assistance too to make it one of the safest things you can be in on the road. Mercedes-Benz’s Driving Assistance Plus with Active Distance DISTRONIC, Active Stop-and-Go Assist, Active Steering Assist, and Active Lane Keeping Assist keeps you on the road and a safe distance from cars in front of you.
One of the biggest selling points of an electric vehicle is its noise, or rather its lack of it. Not having engine noise also means that you get to hear even more things that are happening around the car, which might not be too pleasant. The EQE is designed to cocoon its passengers in a quiet comfortable compartment that is separated from everything else outside the cabin. They use a special foam designed to fill the car to really isolate the cabin while adding some rigidity to the chassis. The windscreen’s frame crossmember is also filled with sound insulation to further isolate noise from the cabin. Thanks to a powerful Burmester sound system in the EQE as well, you can drown out the outside world with immersive music.
The Mercedes-Benz EQE 350+ is available in Malaysia now for MYR 419,888. Keep in mind the quoted price is not including insurance. You can get your EQE through Mercedes-Benz Financial packages with fixed monthly instalments. More information on the Mercedes-Benz EQE can be found on their website.