Mercedes SLS AMG Electric – Plus And Play (Part 2)

With a powering-up crescendo that wouldn't be out of place in an episode of Star Trek, the car announces that it’s ready. AMG has worked hard on the SLS's 'eSound' system, with musicians and engineers helping to create a soundtrack that isn't just clonking dampers and the thrum of fat tires. It's played through the stereo and somehow sounds just right. I don't even think about the noise and will later barely recollect it as anything more than a subtle but hard-edged whoosh with a hint of sci-fi distortion layered on top. In fact more than one journalist will hurriedly rush back to the car just before we leave for the airport, having 'forgotten to listen to the sound it makes'. Myself included. I guess there can be no higher form of flattery.

You sit low, huge bonnet outstretched and mostly out of sight, rear wheels just behind your hips

So you roll away effortlessly and almost silently. Immediately the car feels cohesive and seriously powerful. In Comfort mode the ED offers just that, and while deeply impressive, it's also thoroughly anodyne. But it's transformed the moment the engineer twists the rotary dial to Sport Plus: it's like every sinew in the car is pulled tight and the response and performance ramps up. Suddenly it feels like a supercar.

The sheer scale of the performance and the way it's delivered in an unbroken surge is extraordinary, and you quickly become accustomed to it. What you don't get used to is the ED's grip and the way it tackles the track. You can use the throttle much more aggressively out of tighter turns than you can in the Black Series and you can lean on typical four-wheel-drive traction.

Mercedes SLS AMG Electric interior

You'd expect as much, but what you might not expect is the way this 2110kg machine changes direction, its resistance to under-steer and the brilliance of AMG Torque Dynamics. The system revels in manipulating the ED into glorious slides, rear wheels rotating slightly faster than the fronts and driving them hard into the apex. You have suddenly become Loeb, capable of balancing a two-ton, 740bhp car in millimeter-perfect four-wheel drifts.

Inevitably you begin to experiment by trail braking or even going for the full lift-and-lob turn-in technique to provoke the car. Do so and it will happily take on a more dramatic angle. Fight your instinct for opposite lock, though, because the system's flexibility comes to the fore again, magically pulling you out of slides in a manner reminiscent of a World Rally Car with active diffs. If you do drive it as you would a rear-drive SLS and try to actively correct over-steer, the system feels less natural and the tires regain grip with a nasty grab. Only then does the ED feel all of its two tons. So you adapt and learn to enjoy its unique chassis behavior and the freedom to exploit 737lb ft at will.

Battery efficiency, performance and weight: in all three areas Mercedes-AMG is setting new standards

All too soon, I'm asked to cool the car down and cruise back to the makeshift paddock. Oddly, that lap makes me feel like my brain is struggling to compute what's happened. The ED really is a surreal, highly impressive experience and the intelligent four-wheel-drive system is an eye-opener. The dream of active control of each wheel is alive in this car and it uses the technology to startling effect. Perhaps electric cars will open up a whole new level of agility, stability and excitement....

Mercedes SLS AMG Electric back

Of course, I've barely scratched the surface of the SLS Electric Drive's technology. And I certainly haven't unlocked its long-term or real-world potential. Only an in-depth test on roads we know and love, in varied traffic, varied weather and, crucially, involving the inconvenience of charging and range anxiety will really determine how the SLS ED stacks up. But one thing I can tell you is that the electric car in its most extreme form is a lot of fun and promises much for the future.

Long live the revolution? Perhaps. That's as far as I'll go for now. I'm off to bang some rocks together to start a fire and re-indoctrinate myself against evils of EVs.....