Mercedes-Benz EQS (2021-2025) vs Polestar 5

The Mercedes-Benz EQS costs £10,495 more than the Polestar 5. For that premium it adds 32 miles more WLTP range and 245 litres more boot space. The Polestar 5 is not just cheaper - it also offers 150 kW faster peak rapid charging and 305 kW more power. On EVcarsguide's combined category scores, the Mercedes-Benz EQS comes out ahead overall.

The Polestar 5 is £10,495 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 5 comes out roughly £10,415 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 378 miles for the Mercedes-Benz EQS and 309 miles for the Polestar 5 - both below their WLTP figures, because sustained high speed is the hardest case for an EV. The Mercedes-Benz EQS goes roughly 68 miles further between charging stops. A rapid charge to 80% takes around 31 minutes in the Mercedes-Benz EQS and 22 in the Polestar 5, so the Polestar 5 loses less time at each stop. So the Mercedes-Benz EQS stops less often while the Polestar 5 stops for less time - pick on which you would rather do.

The Mercedes-Benz EQS is the easier car for tight UK car parks: it is 89 mm narrower than the Polestar 5. In a standard 2,400 mm bay that leaves about 474 mm of total clearance for the Mercedes-Benz EQS and about 385 mm of total clearance for the Polestar 5. The Mercedes-Benz EQS also turns in a 1.4 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 EQS and 84% for the Polestar 5. 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. The Mercedes-Benz EQS has the longer battery warranty at 10 years, versus 8 for the Polestar 5.