Mercedes-Benz Eqv300 vs Mercedes-Benz Eqs450

What's the difference?

As far as vehicle niches go, this is pretty niche. The Mercedes-Benz EQV is Australia’s first premium electric seven-seat commercial vehicle-based people mover.

The EQV falls under Benz’s electric ‘EQ’ banner and is based on the Vito van platform, but adapted to house an all-electric powertrain. 

However, unlike the popular EQA small SUV or recently launched EQB, don’t expect to see too many EQVs on the roads.

It is likely to appeal to airport transfer operators, hotels and other corporate customers that need to ferry multiple people around in comfort.

But given the kilometres those airport limo drivers can clock up in a day, is an EV capable of doing the job? And will these buyers be happy to fork out more than $150,000 for the privilege?

The EV revolution is bringing plenty of firsts, and this big electric behemoth is yet another one. Meet the EQS450, which Mercedes describes as its first "electric luxury full-size SUV with seven seats".

That is a bit of a mouthful though, right? So let’s shortcut that a bit, shall we? 

What you really need to know is that this is one of the few proper seven-seat electric SUVs on sale in Australia, so it will — a little surprisingly — end up being compared with the increasingly premium Kia and its EV9 when it launches in November.

So what does this electric answer to a high-riding S-Class bring to the table? Well, lots of luxury, of course.