Mercedes-AMG's GT SUV Charges at 710 kW, but the Version Orderable Oct. 20 Tops Out at 600 kW and 536 hp

Mercedes-AMG unveiled its electric GT SUV on Oct. 17 with up to 1,153 hp, a 128 kWh pack and DC charging at up to 710 kW. The only version that opens for orders on Oct. 20, the GT 53, has neither the pack nor the motors behind those figures.

The figures come from Mercedes' own press release, datelined Affalterbach, and from Electrek's write-up the same day. Mercedes marks the charging and some performance numbers as preliminary, not confirmed by an official testing body or EU type approval. Every figure below is Mercedes' claim.

Three versions, two battery packs

The GT 63 and GT 55 use three axial-flux motors; the GT 53 uses two conventional synchronous motors. The two bigger versions come with a 106 kWh or a 128 kWh pack, and the GT 53 only with 106 kWh.

Version	Peak power	Pack, usable	Max DC charge
GT 63 SUV	860 kW (1,169 PS)	106 or 128 kWh	600 or 710 kW
GT 55 SUV	600 kW (816 PS)	106 or 128 kWh	600 or 710 kW
GT 53 SUV	400 kW (544 PS)	106 kWh	600 kW

The 1,153 hp that Electrek and US coverage quote for the GT 63 is the same output as Mercedes' 1,169 PS, converted from metric to mechanical horsepower. Continuous power is 530 kW, or 721 PS, on both axial-flux versions, and the GT 63's peak lasts a boost window of 63 seconds.

Mercedes lists the GT 53 as orderable from Oct. 20 at €113,050 in Germany including 19 percent VAT. The GT 63 and GT 55 follow in spring 2027. Electrek reports first US dealer deliveries in summer 2027 and says no US price is announced.

1. GT 63 / GT 55 SUV, 128 kWh710 kW
2. GT 63 / GT 55 / GT 53 SUV, 106 kWh600 kW
3. Porsche Cayenne Turbo Electric400 kW

Source: Mercedes-Benz press release, Oct. 17, 2026; Porsche figure as reported by Electrek, accessed 2026-10-17

What 710 kW means over a 10-to-80 percent charge

Peak power is a moment, not a session. Mercedes quotes 12 minutes for 10 to 80 percent on the 128 kWh pack. That is 70 percent of 128 kWh, or 89.6 kWh, in a fifth of an hour: an average of about 448 kW, which is 1.6 times below the headline. The 106 kWh pack takes 11 minutes for 74.2 kWh, an average near 405 kW against a 600 kW peak.

The number that matters here is the curve, and Mercedes publishes two points on it. In 10 minutes the 128 kWh pack gains 83 kWh, an average of about 498 kW; in five minutes it gains 48 kWh. The first five minutes therefore run near 576 kW and the second five near 420 kW, so the charger power the car can use falls by roughly a quarter inside the window.

Then there is the plug. Electrek says most US fast chargers top out at 400 kW, so 710 kW is largely unavailable there today. We covered a rival claim in BYD's Atto 8 report, and the cost side in our Supercharger pricing piece. Mercedes' own 400 kW row shows the cost: 14 minutes for the 106 kWh pack and 16 minutes for the 128 kWh, which is about 336 kW average for the larger pack. The Porsche Cayenne Turbo Electric, which Electrek lists at 113 kWh, 400 kW and under 16 minutes, lands in the same place on a 400 kW charger.

The 22 kWh that cost 110 kg

Mercedes lists the GT 63 at 2,585 kg with the 106 kWh pack and 2,695 kg with the 128 kWh pack. The 110 kg difference buys 22 kWh, or 5 kg for each added kilowatt-hour. The pack is 18 modules at 106 kWh and 22 modules at 128 kWh, built from cylindrical cells 105 mm tall and 26 mm across with an NCMA cathode, silicon in the anode and energy density above 298 Wh/kg at cell level.

On that density, 22 kWh of cells weighs about 74 kg, so roughly 36 kg of the extra mass is modules, cooling and structure. Mercedes does not publish the split. WLTP range moves from 525 to 585 km on the 106 kWh GT 63 to 620 to 700 km on the 128 kWh, a gain of 95 to 115 km, or 4.3 to 5.2 km per added kilowatt-hour.

Stefan Weckbach, chairman of the management board of Mercedes-AMG GmbH, gave the car its tagline: "SUV by Shape. GT by Nature." The release adds a 0.27 drag coefficient on the GT 63 and the GT 55, and five charging standards, NACS among them.

What would change my read

The 448 kW average rests on Mercedes' 12-minute figure surviving type approval. Independent charging logs from a production GT 63 would replace it, and the first of those cannot arrive before spring 2027 in Germany. A 710 kW public charger network in the US, which no source I fetched describes, would change the plug argument. Until then the Oct. 20 order book opens for the 536 hp car.