The Mercedes-Benz EQS 450 is one of the cars qualified for the acceleration enhancement
Mercedes plans to provide an online accessible “subscription fee” service in the United States (U.S.) to make its electric cars travel sooner.
With a cost of $1,200 per year (excluding tax), the company offers to accelerate some of its vehicles from 0 to 60 mph more quickly.
It comes after rival BMW presented a “subscription” feature earlier this year, 2022 – for heated seats.
Mercedes-Benz has confirmed that its “Acceleration Increase” plan will not soon be available to consumers in the U.K.
The Mercedes-Benz E.E.Q. is scheduled for release in the U.U.S. in the EQ 350 and EQS 450 cars, S.U.V. versions, and other Mercedes vehicles.
According to the Mercedes-Benz U.S. online store, the feature “electronically increases” the output of this car’s motor and torque.
It was able to estimate that this amounts to a 20-24 percent increase in capacity, allowing a Mercedes EQ 350 SUV to accelerate from zero to sixty miles per hour in around 5.2 seconds rather than around 6.2 seconds without it.
Consumer Reaction
Jack McKeown, the president of the Association of Scottish Motoring Writers’ motoring editor and a motoring expert at the Courier newspaper, stated that Mercedes released a new feature but felt dispiriting.
He stated, “When you pay a monthly fee for communication or broadband, you’re paying the company to provide and maintain a data network.”
“Mercedes-Benz is asking you to pay for the hardware it had already installed in your vehicle – which it presumably made a profit on when you purchased it.”
“An effort on the part of many subscription services to increase revenue is troubling. I hope there will be a backlash against this approach.”
Launching Soon
In July, BMW faced backlash when it announced that it would charge consumers $25 per month to access heated seats and steering wheels. BMW believed that there’s value in subscription.
Toyota announced in December 2021 that it would charge some car drivers $8 monthly to remotely start their cars using a key fob.
Tesla introduced “Acceleration Boost” in 2019, increasing the performance of its vehicles’ zero to sixty mph acceleration by a half second for a price of $2,000.
The US Mercedes storefront has the Acceleration Increase subscription service listed as “coming soon.” Since no specific release date has been specified, the release time is unknown.
