MERCEDES S CLASS PLUG-IN HYBRID S 580 e L RANGE TEST

I will test the range first on the highway. I want to find out the minimum range of this car by testing it at higher average speeds. At the beginning of the drive, the battery is fully charged to 100%. The range indicator is at 97 km. I did the test in January and it was between 8.5 and 9.5 degrees during this part of the test. Let’s take a look at my results. During the test, consumption varied between 24.3 kWh and 26.3 kWh, giving a theoretical range of between 94 and 84 km.

I drained the battery to 0% and the final result on the highway was a range of 84 km.

Now let’s test the range at lower average speeds in the city. I want to know what the maximum range of this car could be. At the beginning of the drive, the battery is fully charged to 100%. The range indicator is at 87 km. The temperature during this test was between 4 and 5.5 degrees. Let’s take a look at my results.

I first drained the battery to 82% and I drove 10 km. Average consumption was 36 kWh which is on the higher side. The theoretical range would be 84 km. This was because I was driving in a big city like Brussels, where you have to stop a lot for traffic lights. All this stop-and-go driving has an impact on consumption.

After that we are still driving in an urban environment, but with a little more opportunity for continuous smooth driving. Consumption then dropped to between 32 and 27.3 kWh giving a theoretical range of about 84 to 81 km. I drove the battery all the way down to 0% and the range ended up at 81 km, which is even a bit less than on the highway. Keep in mind that it was much colder during the city test, around 4.5 degrees versus 9 degrees on the highway.

Now let’s see how long it takes to charge the battery. This battery has a capacity of 28.6 kWh, quite a hefty battery to fully charge. It has an onboard 11 kW charger, which you can use for AC charging. In addition, it can also do DC fast charging at speeds up to 60 kW.

Let’s try out fast charging first. Mercedes says an empty battery can be fully charged in about 30 minutes. At the beginning of the charging session, the battery is at 3%. We immediately got 56 kw and the car indicated it would take about 24 minutes to fully charge. After 10 minutes, we are charging at a speed of 62 kW. The battery is now at 42% and we have gained 42 km of range. After 20 minutes, we are charging at a speed of 49 kW. The battery is already at 85% and the range indicator shows an estimated range of 83 km.

After 25 minutes, we fully recharged the battery. Again, being able to fast charge a plug-in hybrid is not at all common, so this is pretty special on this S-Class.

Now let’s try charging this car with a slow AC charger. This car has an onboard charger of 11 kw. I can’t really find an AC recharge time in the press information, so let’s go straight to my results. When I started the charging session, the battery was at 1%. The car indicated that it would take 2h03 minutes to fully charge the battery.

You’re probably wondering about fuel economy. I did a general test drive of 309 km, 124 km of which were electric and the average consumption was 6.5 kwh and 6.8 liters.

In conclusion, the range of the Mercedes S-Class Plug-In Hybrid in winter is around 81 to 84 km, measured at temperatures between 4 and 9.5 degrees. I’m pretty sure in warmer weather you get more range. In summer, you will probably get to the WLTP range of 94 to 113km or even a little more. For a plug-in, these driving range figures are actually quite exceptional. Also that you can fast charge this car at speeds up to 60 kW.

Also be sure to check out our nighttime test drive video with the Mercedes S-Class PHEV featuring a demonstration of the ambient lighting. By the way, we also did a test drive with the first generation Mercedes S-Class PHEV back in 2014.