Mercedes will use the designation “with EQ technology” rather than naming its EVs with separate “EQ” model names, to focus on treating them more like normal models – in what this author considers an overdue move.
For many years now, Mercedes has added “EQ” to the model name of its electric models, as in the Mercedes EQS, EQE and so on. It’s meant to stand for “electric intelligence,” a play on the concept of “IQ.”
The convention started with Mercedes’ EQ concept cars, first named as such in 2016 (special mention here for the awesome EQA hot hatch concept, which ended up turning into an SUV… sigh).
Since then, Mercedes has carried it over into all of its electric models, treating “EQ” as a separate sub-brand or a model line on its own, to distinguish it from the company’s staid fossil-powered offerings.
But that has led to some confusion among buyers. With models named EQA, EQB, EQC, EQE, EQE SUV, EQS, EQS SUV, EQV, and EQT, it starts to look like alphabet soup.
Mercedes noticed this confusion and commented on it back in 2023, when it first announced its plan to drop EQ branding from its model names.
Mercedes buyers are used to the convention of naming vehicles with lettering based on body style and numbers based on engine displacement. But for the EV line, all vehicles share the letters “EQ,” which could lead customers to think that there is some similarity between them, and engine displacement doesn’t really make any sense to apply to an EV. So there is room for confusion there.
Instead, Mercedes now says it will follow the convention it established with the release of the electric G-Class, which it officially calls “G580 with EQ technology.” That “with EQ technology” portion will stick and be carried through other Mercedes EVs, like the upcoming electric CLA. Plug-in hybrids will use “with EQ hybrid technology” as their designation.
Mercedes is treating this as somewhat of a compromise between dropping “EQ” entirely and still maintaining continuity with its past electric models. In this way, there is still a way to tell that a model is electric, but they will be treated more like “normal” models within the model range, instead of as a separate sub-brand.
Alongside these changes, Mercedes has also signaled a return to more “traditional” designs for its EVs, such as a fake grille for the 2025 EQS and perhaps less streamlined exterior shapes for upcoming EVs.
Electrek’s Take
It’s a bit of a mouthful, especially on the first available model with such naming, the G580 with EQ Technology – but we expect that people will start calling it “the electric G-Class” or “G-Class EQ” (perhaps a similar treatment to how people use AMG) or thereabouts, and that as other models gain the same designation, they will get the same colloquial treatment until it eventually feels normal. (Although, we still don’t know what the “580” means in that name).
And, I have long thought that automakers should do something like this, and treat electric models as normal models rather than some foreign thing.
We’ve seen a lot of odd naming conventions from automakers as they try to figure out what to call their EVs – like Audi, which originally introduced the E-tron as a singular concept model and later ended up using it as a designation for anything with an electric motor, or BMW, which started a separate “Projekt i” sub-brand in the early days (with actually interesting designs for once), then killed it off, then brought back the “i” to make more conventional-looking vehicles.
My theory is that by treating models as something foreign, something different, you create an internal conflict within the organization, confusion among customers, and all-in-all make the EVs seem less like a “normal” choice that a buyer could make. It almost feels like you’d have to go to a separate dealership, talk to a separate specialist, in order to find an EV. It adds another layer of friction which could push customers away.
But EVs don’t need to be different and weird, especially here in 2025 where just about everyone at this point has seen them, taken rides in them, has a friend who has one, or something of the sort. And if the entire auto industry is going to electrify – which, I think it bears repeating, is happening and is inevitable, no matter who tries to stop it – at some point we need to drop this idea that EVs are “something else” and recognize that they’re just cars.
So, why not call EVs something normal? Every gas car gets its own name – Tucson, Elantra, Camry, Palisade – so why can’t EVs just be normal too? Let’s get more Taycans, more Dolphins, more Leafs.
And, this is one step along the way towards that for Mercedes, and that’s a good thing. Other automakers should consider the same.
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