2025 Mercedes-Benz G580 electric: Quick drive
With four electric motors and more power than the petrol-powered V8, the 2025 Mercedes-Benz G580 promises to take the G-Class game to a completely different sphere. Trent Nikolic tests the first G-Class with EQ technology at its international launch.
- Incredible capability
- Ride compliance is excellent
- Four motors provide genuine off-road ability
- Weight restricts range below 500km
- Not enough genuine fast chargers to suit the 200kW capability
- None of them will ever go off-road in Oz
2025 Mercedes-Benz G580
If you measure a four-wheel drive purely by the numbers, the 2025 Mercedes-Benz G580 puts forward a compelling case. The first number you need to consider is four. Four motors to be specific. One at each wheel, something that unequivocally ensures capability off-road the likes of which we haven’t seen, especially given the speed of each wheel can be controlled individually. The Hummer EV, which is a genuine off-roader – for comparison – has three electric motors.
Then, you can turn your focus to the outputs – 432kW and 1164Nm – which provide eyebrow-raising reading straight up. That the G580 makes 2kW and a whopping 314Nm more than the boisterous G63 is genuinely noteworthy.
First, though, the elephant in the room. The challenge facing any electric 4x4 in Australia is the tyranny of distance. Specifically, the reality that the kind of four-wheel drive obstacles the G580 will relish tend to be some distance from a town – or a charger.
For the moment, then, that’s the significant issue any electric 4WD must contend with. However, the breadth of control, performance, and drivability that an electric platform can deliver cannot be underestimated. And, such is the case with the G580.
It looks different to the regular G-Wagen too, when parked in a lot full of them, thanks to the different grille and louvres within, along with an illuminated surround. There’s also a revised, raised bonnet design, what Mercedes-Benz calls air curtains in the rear wheel arch flares, a spoiler lip on the roof, and aero-optimised 18-inch wheels.
First, though, the question you all want answered. Yes, we did donuts at launch, or more accurately, spins, and once activated the G580 does all the work. That party trick is called ‘G-Turn’.
If you thought it was a gimmick in the advertising, think again. Press the button in the dash where the diff lock switches would normally be to activate the mode, then select which way you want it to spin with the shift paddles, and nail the accelerator pedal.
Basically, you just hold the steering wheel straight and giggle like a loon while you are taken for a ride. Necessary? No. An indication of where the future of drivetrain solutions might head? Yes.
I suspect the ability to pirouette on the spot came as a sidebar to the skid-steer-like way in which the electric motors can deliver – and kill – drive to each wheel, making three-point turns on tight downhill switchbacks a distant memory. The G580 will spin twice before it stops and G-Turn can only be engaged in low-range and Rock mode.
The manoeuvrability of such a hefty 4WD is quite staggering on a tight dirt track. More on that in a minute.
On the subject of heft, the G580 adds nearly 530kg to the already portly regular G-Class for a net weight of 3085kg. That’s why the EV gets to 100km/h slightly slower – 4.7 against 4.3 seconds – than the G63 AMG version. It’s still snappy, though, and it feels it on the road when you bury your right foot.
Under the skin, there’s a modified ladder-frame chassis that is common to the internal combustion G-Class, but the modifications that have been made aren’t just about strength. The battery pack has been designed and mounted in such a way that it can act as a structural component of the G-Class, which means it doesn’t just deliver power, but is also practical.
At launch, we had a good look under one of the G580 test mules, and the underbody protection (a 26mm-thick plate that includes a mix of carbon) had been hammered in various test locations around the world. It would appear that the G-Class engineers have ensured it’s well-protected and robust.
Given our drive was a heavy-duty off-road experience mostly in low-range, and then an on-road thrash through some twisty country roads, it’s difficult for us to comment on the claimed range from the 116kWh battery pack – somewhere between 434km and 473km according to European WLTP testing.
There was a lot of talk at the G580's international launch about 200kW DC fast charging, which will get the electric G-Class from 10 to 80 per cent in as little as 32 minutes. Given my experiences with chargers in Europe, that is entirely plausible. In Australia, not quite so easy or readily accessible. You can, of course, charge the G580 at up to 11kW AC on a home charger.
Any modern 4x4 with real off-road ability now packs all manner of technology under the skin to best make use of engine power, gearing and grip. But the G580 takes that up a notch thanks to the genius of the electric motors. Each motor has its own two-speed transmission, with high and low range and what Mercedes-Benz calls ‘virtual diff locks’ that are enacted via torque vectoring.
What staggered me the most is given the complete lack of driveline noise, you can hear what the tyres are doing the whole time you’re working away off-road. And we could hear almost zero slip or scrabble at any time, such is the precision with which drive is delivered. That remained the case no matter how gnarly and uneven the track.
Uncanny and a little surreal at first, the experience of off-roading in near silence is actually quite enjoyable. If you prefer the raucous silliness of the G63, you can of course activate ‘G-Roar’, which is a synthesised production mimicking the note of the V8. I’d say it's the best example of a fake engine note I’ve tested yet, such that I wasn’t inclined to turn it off, like I am with most of them.
In low-range, and Rock mode, the system activates a 2:1 reduction gear, and you can also activate an off-road crawl-control system for steep uphill or downhill sections. Speed is controlled using the paddle shifters behind the steering wheel. There was so much technology to unpack in such a short time, that we’ll come back to test most of it once we get our hands on the G580 in Australia.
On the technical sheet, the number that interested us the most was the wading depth – 850mm for the G580, which is 150mm deeper than the petrol G-Class variants. Back to the significantly scored bash plates, it would seem that capability was high in the mind of the design and engineering team.
In fact, through the course of our off-road testing, the engineers who have joined us for the ride are direct from the Magna Steyr production facility, and all reiterate that the electric G-Class must be, first and foremost, a real G-Class.
Beyond Rock mode, there is also Comfort, Sport, Individual and Trail, which we will also test more closely at local launch. The 360-degree cameras can deliver a see-through bonnet view that is incredibly handy on treacherous trails. It’s one of those pieces of technology that you didn’t know you needed until you tried it.
The suspension has some work to do given the weight it needs to control, and it’s impressive at doing so. Double wishbone, independent up front, and solid de Dion at the rear, it uses adaptive dampers, which is the same shock absorption used on the regular G-Wagen.
Key details | 2025 Mercedes-Benz G580 electric |
Price | TBC |
Engine | Four electric motors |
Power | 432kW |
Torque | 1164Nm |
Drive type | Four-wheel drive |
Range | 434–473km WLTP |
Weight (kerb) | 3085kg |
0–100km/h | 4.7 seconds |
Charging rate | Up to 200kW (10–80% in 32min) |
Back to the off-road manoeuvrability, that comes into play with ‘G-Steering’, which targets control of the drive at each individual wheel to allow the G580 to turn as close to on the spot as you can get around the inside rear wheel, meaning you can almost turn back on yourself if you’re negotiating switchbacks.
On a regular hill climb, or descent for that matter, you won’t use it, but if you’re working your way along a tight track with regular sharp turns, it makes progress ridiculously easy. Safe, too, because you’re not reversing into the unknown in a three-point turn.
Onto sealed surfaces, and the G580’s bag of tricks continues to deliver. It’s fast, probably more rapid than anything this size needs to be in real terms, refined and effortless. There’s a huge shove in the back when you get cracking, and you only really start to feel how heavy the G580 is if you push it hard into a tight corner.
In every other driving scenario, it just rolls along in quiet comfort. The seating position, visibility, ride comfort and body control are all excellent. The work that the engineers have done to ensure the G580 rides as comfortably as it does is a masterstroke.
With the distances we cover in Australia to do any serious off-roading unarguable, the capability of the G580 is, regardless, also unarguable. Electric drivetrains offer much in the way of technological trickery that can make off-roading easier than it's ever been. Whether electric four-wheel-drives can work in remote areas of Australia is a question the future has to answer.
The fact that most G-Class owners never take their expensive asset onto a dirt road, means the G580 might be the smartest choice for them around town. It’s certainly an impressive execution of technology and capability – on or off-road.