Mercedes-Benz power boost subscription hits hurdle

The plan by Mercedes-Benz to offer paid-for power boosts for its new Mercedes-Benz EQE and EQS model lines has hit the buffers after fears the practice might be deemed illegal under European law.

Mercedes-Benz recently announced that North American buyers could pay $US1200 ($A1800) per year for its ‘Acceleration Increase’ subscription that would shave as much as 0.8-1.0sec off their car’s 0-60mph (0-97km/h) acceleration time.

Neither Mercedes-Benz nor its AMG performance division have yet to clarify how, or why, over-the-air power upgrades might be banned within Europe, but the car-maker has confirmed to Top Gear that “legal matters” will prevent it from allowing electric motors to be derestricted in Europe.

It’s thought part of the problem could concern the power upgrades’ impact on official homologated EU energy usage and WLTP range figures.

According to the car-maker, the extra performance comes from allowing the EQ’s motors to produce an additional 20 to 24 per cent which, in the case of the dual-motor Mercedes-Benz EQE 350 4MATIC, sees total power boosted from 215kW to 260kW.

This reduced the 0-60mph (0-97km/h) time from 6.0sec to just 5.1sec.

If you own an EQS 450 4MATIC the power bump is even bigger, raising total output from 265kW to 330kW. This enables the sedan version to launch from 0-60mph in just 4.5sec (down from 5.3sec).

A variety of car-makers have offered OTA power boosts for their EVs.

Sino-Swedish brand Polestar, for example, recently introduced a Performance Software Upgrade for its Polestar 2 that ramped up power from 300kW/660Nm to 350kW/680Nm.

The difference was that the upgrade was not offered as a monthly, or yearly, subscription but as a one-off booster shot.

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