More and more manufacturers are offering to increase the performance of their electric vehicles via remote software updates. This is the case of Mercedes, which is testing a paid program in the United States to boost the speed of its latest electric models. On the other hand, the subscription is invoiced at a golden price: 1200 dollars per year.
With the democratization of connected cars, more and more car manufacturers offer their customers free and paid remote updates to obtain better performance or additional features.
This practice was obviously popularized by Tesla, the pioneer in the matter. Recently, the American brand reduced the charging time of its electric cars with a patch. Paradoxically, Tesla also does not hesitate to remotely remove certain features offered to motorists. This is for example the case of the GPS functionalities, which until then were free for all Tesla owners.
As mentioned above, this method quickly gained traction within the industry. After the launch in 2018 of its subscription to take advantage of Apple CarPlay, BMW recently announced an option billed at 18 € / month to have heated seats. The German manufacturer also offers the Drive Assist Plus Pack, which offers active cruise control and lane keeping assistance.
Mercedes launches an update sold at a gold price to boost its electric cars
For its part, Mercedes has also yielded to the fashion of the à la carte car and remote updates. In China, the star brand offers access to the rear steering wheels via an annual subscription of 700 euros. And obviously, she does not intend to stop there. The manufacturer is currently testing a new subscription program in the United States called Acceleration Increase and invoiced at a gold price: 1200 euros per year.
As you can imagine, this option will allow improve performance (torque and power) of the company’s latest electric cars, with on average between 0.8 and 1 second gained on the 0 to 100 km/h. Note that this “feature” is only reserved for models in the EQ range. For now, only the Mercedes EQE and EQS are eligible for this mode. Here are the improvements made in detail:
- Mercedes EQE 350 4MATIC : from 215 kW to 260 kW (i.e. from 288 to 349 hp), 0 to 100 km/h in 5.1 seconds instead of 6
- Mercedes EQE SUV 350 4MATIC : from 215 kW to 260 kW (i.e. from 288 to 349 hp), 0 to 100 km/h in 5.2 seconds instead of 6.2
- Mercedes EQS 450 4MATIC : from 265 kW to 330 kW (i.e. from 355 to 443 hp), 0 to 100 km/h in 4.5 seconds instead of 5.3
- Mercedes EQS SUV 450 4MATIC : from 265 kW to 330 kW (from 355 to 443 hp), 0 to 100 km/h in 4.9 seconds instead of 5.8
For the moment, Mercedes did not specify if this program was intended for a launch in France.
