So we have driven about 4,447 miles in the EQE so far (Code name Edelweiss) and I have topped up the battery a good few times at this stage of proceedings.
I had been quite impressed how the GOM range went up to 302 miles range @ 95% charge after charging it a few times in the summer months.
Now, In late December 2023, with the cold of winter here with us, the GOM displays a 292 Mile full charge range as expected in colder climes.
It still does not really want to charge beyond 95% anyways - gets real slow from 92% charge onwards in fact.
The 100% charge situation usually happens when we plug it in at 11 PM and do not drive it for a day or two - where it is left plugged in to the charger for that final slow trickle charge.
When you go to the Electrify America semi-free chargers or the EVgo network Fast chargers, the DC fast charging is an interesting experience.
They are not universally the same in other words.
This is all related to the KVA rating of the chargers themselves and what the GOM in Edelweiss thinks about the quality of the power she is sucking in from said Fast charger.
Edelweiss dictates the charging rate at all times by the way.
The Mercedes network of chargers (Electrify America) only gave me 20 minutes of fast charging by the way, not the 30 minutes it was supposed to give us.
I have now charged at a few of these newer 350 KW charging units and it charges past the 30 minutes, it now just bills you for what you do over the 30 minutes.
I plugged into a few of the newer Electrify America 350 KW super chargers and it is a rapid experience to charge it up on them new chargers! They have evolved nicely IMHO!
I have noticed though, that the DC Fast charging will not go beyond a 279 Mile range, you need the slower level 2 AC charges to get the max distance out of these battery cells.
The irksome problem where I had charged at several Electrify America Fast Chargers and experienced a cut off charging and an error at roughly the 21 minutes mark has not repeated itself again on the newer charging units.
The Electrify America Fast charging for those 21 minutes was pretty impressive by the way, if the charger could deliver 150-350 KW/h at any rate!
With the EVGO chargers you have to look for the half height squat dumpy ones to get the best Fast Charge experience with the EQE.
The big upright EVGO units (these are in the majority) do not go over 75 KW/h which can make for a tedious hour waiting for enough charge to make it worth the effort of bothering.
I have heard the newer gen ones are like the newer Electrify America charging units but have yet to locate one of the bastard thangs to date!
I have set my Waze GPS to always find the Electrify America chargers even if it is 5 miles out of my way because I am done in about 30 minutes at those ones for some reason.
Mercedes storing of kinetic energy converted to electric power stored in the battery cells remains quite impressive while in regen braking mode by the way.
They have some proprietary tech under the hood that only Mercedes service staff can open and service, which I find both annoying and worrying.
Having coolant topped up by only Mercedes garage staff is not my idea of self servicing your own vehicle.
On the EQE by the way, you have to flick the minus paddle on the left side of the steering wheel for Max regen braking to restore battery power - every time you drive it, it does not remember the setting.
Mercedes calls this "Max Recuperation mode".
Once I set the Max Recuperation paddle every time I drive it, shit starts looking pretty darn respectable indeed, range wise.
Mercedes list the EQE range at 253 miles on their USA website but I think this is assuming you buy the 60 extra ponies upgrade for $1950 which we are not going to do.
As I mentioned, after a summer few charges it informed me the range was 302 miles with a 95% charge.
This was constant after nine charges and it is confusing me greatly as the literature says 279 miles, though I did get it to 329 miles the other day after I forgot it was still on charge.
I did some aggregate math on this range thang and it actually seems that the aggregate is almost exactly 279 miles range - this is combining both uphill and downhill destination legs from Brentwood CA 94513 to Mediterranean drive Hayward and back, so maybe the claim is not as crazy as it first seems to be.
I took 160 to Highway 4, to 242, to 680 to 24 to 980 to I880 and return was via I880 to 238, to 580 to Vasco Road to Highway 4 and the branch off to 160 exit at 18th Street.
I did touch 103 Mph twice but was on cruise control set to 67 Mph outbound and just floored it when safe homeward bound in the express lane.
This EQE 350 4Matic SUV drives and handles like a slick smooth machine that impresses every time you drive the darn thang.
It does over-steer which is surprising for such a heavy vehicle and it's turning circle is fairly miraculous.
I have had to re-compensate often when turning as it as taking me to barriers and kerbs so you have to watch the oversteer from slowish speeds quite a bit.
Driving the EQE makes you feel like a glove of sublime luxury has wrapped you up in it's velvet arms and coated your senses with luxury as you go.
The entertainment system and integration with Apple CarPlay is wireless and also very slick for 47 minutes at which point it mysteriously just disconnects.
Scheisse!!
On 7/22 I activated the T-Mobile internet system from the Mercedes system in the car and this seemed to have temporarily solved the BlueTooth dropping from the iPhone in Apple CarPlay mode but it started doing it again almost immediately.
This makes no sense whatsoever and is sans logic but I drove 140 miles on 7/23 and since I did the T-Mobile activation the Apple CarPlay dropout problem had gone away but came back August 1 2023, randomly.
It also cuts out parallel to a water treatment plant on Highway 4 and none of my other EV vehicles does this.
I got somewhat of a clue from a Danish EQE owner from Aarhus on the interwebs thang but it did not check out.
Good job I can read me some Danish but I as stated, I had to report this is in fact not the answer.
The Android phones do not have this problem with the Mercedes Electric line up by the way so this is most likely a license Mercedes declined to pay Apple for.
The entertainment system in the I-Pace HSE was a serious joke by the way, in case you were wondering about comparisons between the I-Pace and the EQE 350 4Matic.
Unlike the Jaguar though, the Navigation system in the EQE is actually pretty slick but there is no beating what Waze does there IMHO, so I drive with Waze on the screen and switch between Danish or Dutch as the default language in Waze.
When Carplay disconnects after 47 minutes I switch to the onboard GPS pretty seamlessly.
I have yet to explore the various Mercedes screens and settings or language options tied to my profile because my wife can only manage German and me no like German GPS speaks and prefer Dutch or Danish as my default language..
Anyhew, I will update my Mercedes EQE electric adventures as I go week by week!
By the way, the Obsidian Black Paint job on this SUV is vastly superior to the Jaguars Santorini Black custom paint job, by a very wide margin.
I hated the paint job on the Jaguar HSE with a passion.
In fact, IMHO ALL Jaguar cars have very sub-standard paint on them, they need to go see how Mercedes does paint IMHO.
Even the plush seats in the EQE put the fine Jaguar seating and Upholstery to shame which was a shocker for me to process, truth be told.
I don't even miss the Jaguars egregious power much......In my opinion the Hungarian made twin electric motors in the EQE are vastly superior to the Polish ones found in the Jaguar I-PACE EV400 HSE in terms of refinement.
I did discover you can pay $60 a month to boost the electrical power in the EQE 350 4Matic SUV by 60HP to take it to 348 ponies or a lifetime payment of $1950 to make it a forever deal.
However, be aware the battery range using this extra power cuts the range to 185 miles and also be aware that at 5364 lbs curb weight plus passengers and luggage that this thing takes some distance stopping from 130 Mph track antics.
The extra HP does not impact top speed by the way, just how it gets there.
The 400 HP those Polish motors in the I-PACE deliver though are RAW and magnificent in their vicious and blunt brutal glory.
The Mercedes electric motors are made in Hungary and the Hungarians have been building these things since Nicola Tesla roamed the area in person.
I even bought me an Alpine hat to wear while driving the EQE, "She who must be obeyed" is mightily galled by my Green Bavarian Hat!
At month 5 with 2,546 miles on the odo, the GOM range reported dead on 302 mile range after a fullish charge to 95% fairly consistently.
They (Mercedes Factory) set it to charge to just 80% by the way, citing battery preservation as the reason.
If Mercedes techs juggle the active cells with software like they do on the Bolt and Jaguar I-PACE (both LG Chem batteries) they can achieve the same sort of effect without sacrificing range, so me no like that development! It be a crock of shite IMHO!
We went to Hayward over the weekend of 7/23 to visit our Grandson Chuckles again and we had 164 miles range left on our return and it seemed to be that way deep into November of 23 at any rate.
The second time we did the same trip we had less power left (52%) but the GOM displayed a claimed 164 miles range to go and I was aggressive with the ol hoof on the return leg of that particular trip as well.
Somehow this EQE manages to put a lot of power back into the battery system in Max Recuperation mode.
One difference on this thing compared to other EV's is the way this thing brakes.
It's like a normal ICE vehicle with braking and it is very heavy at some 5364 odd pounds empty.
I have yet to discover one pedal driving mode on this EQE thing. The Bolt and Jag were awesome with this aspect.
In fact I waded into one pedal driving with the EQE these past few months and have concluded this is in fact a swift way to die.
It is way too heavy for that sh1t!
I have also noticed my original 2016 based Clipper Creek level 2 charger takes a long time to charge this beast to 95% as well.
I bought it in December 2016 and am wondering how long these charger thangs actually last?
Simple circuitry should make it near Immortal actually......
I did notice the warranty dipped from 5 years to 3 years on the newer ones though.
I like Clipper Creek stuff because they do not futz with the Smart Circuitry remote access bollocks that is the Achilles heel of all of these EV chargers that offer remote app access and control shenanigans from a smart phone.
Enphase bought Clipper Creek a few years ago and I suspect the Money Bunny of this new company has resulted is lesser components being acquired but I will need to rip the new one apart when I get one to confirm my suspicion there.
Do not use the cheapie Clipper Creek EV charging systems in cold climes by the way, their Cable is not freeze friendly at all.
If you live in California or Arizona them thangs was designed for you!
Last week I called Enphase to go over the time to charge experience.
The LCS30-P can only deliver 5.7 KWh charging rates, I need to upgrade to the HCS40 where I will get 9.6 KWh charge rates to bring the charge time down.
This means a hard wired HCS40 on a 60Amp circuit breaker with 6 AWG wiring upgrades though I think the wiring may already be 6 AWG.
While we are at home base work wise I will try find a Suitable Free Charger from Electrify America or pay for an EVGO Fast Charge to 85% and do the rest at home.
I also learnt the Enphase folk upgraded all the cables on these units to be Freeze friendly which is why those units all cost $821 upwards with 5 year warranties.
If you are paying less than $600 for your LCS it is not ruggedized BTW.
Some more electrical details to worry about for your EV experience!!
On 8/31 I took it to the EVGO Fast charging setup close to Bev Mo on Lone Tree Way and was amazed how fast it sucked up electrons but it is the same story I found on my Bolt in terms of ramping stages.
When I plugged it in it was charging at 132 KW/h per the GOM in the vehicle, 15 minutes later it ramped down to 123 KW/h, did that for 6 minutes then stepped down to 102 KW/h then 92 KW/h and on down to 42 KW/h by the time my endurance was reached.
This has nothing to do with the DC fast charging system by the way as the Vehicle dictates to the charging system what it wants.
Of course if the DC Fast charging system cannot deliver 200 KW/h it will not charge at 200 KW/h even for a short ramp so it is important.
Most of these EVGO and Electrify America DC Fast chargers only serve up 150 KW/h max anyways so while they are better than a level 2 charger it is only marginally better.
I used to have to charge for 57 minutes with the I-Pace HSE on them thangs.
I stopped charging when it got to 90% charge but would suggest letting it go down to 10% and charging it to 83% when you want to use the DC Level 3 Fast charging.
This could be tricky on a long trip between LA and the Bay area so trip planning to know where DC Fast chargers lurk on your route is a must do exercise.
For me Highway 5 and 99 has plenty of Electrify America DC Fast chargers which are free for Mercedes owners for 2 years 2 30 minutes a pop if you buy a new EQ series electric vehicle from them, so I can hurtle between destinations in my sales territory at high speed and rapidly charge to 87% before moving on with 30 minutes charging done.
This charge to 87% by the way seems to also give you the claimed 279 miles range though 5 miles down the 99 it was depleting faster than usual.
I am starting to think level 2 charging is more charge efficient than level 3 Fast DC charging and they do indeed not work the same way at all.
In November she who must be obeyed took it to Scarymento for a drive and the tire pressure warning lights came on with all sorts of low fluid levels in the battery system when she got to Rancho Cordova.
I took it in to Mercedes of Pleasanton and they replaced the sealant water bottle and there was a recall on the brake system that they also fixed molto-pronto.
They gave me a white loaner of the same model as ours and I was stunned how much nicer it was to drive than our EQE chariot.
Fortunately, when we got it back Edelweiss was also driving like the loaner EQE 350 4Matic and it has been pretty smooth since then and I have driven to Monterrey and up to Petaluma and it was a real joy to drive.
In fact on the way back from Monterrey I drove it pretty hard in the dark and was impressed at how it did not radically drop the power vs how the Jaguar HSE bled power with a heavy foot.
Having said that the EQE is comfortable at 90 Mph all day long whereas the Jag HSE wanted to sit at 120 Mph all day long.
The power at 120 Mph obviously does not last that long in that I-PACE or in fact any EV.
It's like that Bugatti Veyron one of the Saudi princes owns that has a tire life of 90 minutes at 200 Mph.
On the subject of tires, the ones shod to our chariot are the R02 20" items as we got the 20" Rim upgrade on ours and they seem pretty darn good.
The breaking system bedded in after the brake recall fix was done so it does not feel quite as suicidal as it did when new, but having said that, we got heavy rain in northern California this week (12/20) and you do not want to drive this thing over 90 Mph in the wet either.
Fortunately it is pretty solid in Mr Magoo fuddy duddy rain weather mode!
Things to worry about as we go!
Bisher ist alles sehr verdammt pfirsichfarben!
