Mercedes-Benz EQE vs Polestar 4

The Mercedes-Benz EQE costs £9,375 more than the Polestar 4. For that premium it adds 32 miles more WLTP range and 35 kW more power. The Polestar 4 is not just cheaper - it also offers 30 kW faster peak rapid charging, 100 litres more boot space and a 3.6s quicker 0-62mph time. On EVcarsguide's combined category scores, the Polestar 4 comes out ahead overall.

The Polestar 4 is £9,375 cheaper to buy. Running costs are almost identical - about £176 a year either way, at 8,000 miles on an off-peak home tariff. Add 5 years of charging and the Polestar 4 comes out roughly £9,295 cheaper overall. These figures cover list price and home charging only - insurance, servicing, tyres and depreciation will move the real total.

EVcarsguide estimates a real-world motorway range of about 281 miles for the Mercedes-Benz EQE and 277 miles for the Polestar 4 - effectively matched, and both well below their WLTP figures because sustained high speed is the hardest case for an EV. Both rapid-charge to 80% in a similar time, around 30-32 minutes.

The Mercedes-Benz EQE is the easier car for tight UK car parks: it is 47 mm narrower than the Polestar 4. In a standard 2,400 mm bay that leaves about 439 mm of total clearance for the Mercedes-Benz EQE and about 392 mm of total clearance for the Polestar 4. The Polestar 4 also turns in a 0.9 m tighter circle, which helps with U-turns and multi-storey ramps.

Over a 8-year ownership window EVcarsguide's degradation model projects roughly 84% battery health for the Mercedes-Benz EQE and 84% for the Polestar 4. That is close enough that capacity loss should not decide between them. Both use NMC-type cells, so for daily use keep the charge limit near 80% to slow degradation.