India's largest luxury carmaker Mercedes Benz on Thursday launched the country's first luxury electric car EQC at a starting price of Rs 99.3 lakh for its first 50 customers. The price also includes a 7.2 KWh AC wall box charger that can fully charge the vehicle in 10 hours, which Mercedes would fit at the customer's choice of location.
Based on the Mercedes GLC platform, its compact SUV, the EQC has two electric motors at its front and rear axles instead of a petrol or diesel internal combustion engine which is powered by a 80 kwh lithium ion battery. The motor has a peak output of 408 bhp and 760 NM of torque which enables the car to sprint from 0-100 kph in 5.1 seconds. The battery has a certified range of 445-471 kilometers on full charge. For the sake of conserving the battery and range, its top speed is limited at 180 kph.
"EQC is one of the most anticipated cars in the luxury space and we are glad to pioneer a new segment in India, that of the Luxury EV. We are excited to launch this car for our discerning customers in India who always wanted a practical electric car with a long range, which is very stylish, extremely refined and fun to drive, laden with the latest generation intuitive technology, extremely safe, has zero tailpipe emission, and - most importantly - a pure Mercedes," said Martin Schwenk, managing director and CEO, Mercedes Benz India.
"The EQC meets all these criteria of today's tech savvy customers as it combines effortlessly design, functionality, technology and luxury together in a unique package. Our objective is to put our combined experience and understanding of the Indian market and customers behind the EQC, and create a long-term, worry-free, sustainable and green mobility ecosystem in India. The EQC will become a torch-bearer towards sustainable luxury in India."
Mercedes is rolling the vehicle out in 13 locations in 6 cities initially and to allay fears of range anxiety it is facilitating a charging network at over 100 locations in 48 cities around the country. The battery also comes with a 8 year/160,000 kilometer warranty.
"Listening to the customers, we launched the EQC in India after creating a nationwide ecosystem that will seamlessly support the EQC customers' ownership requirements. The entire customer journey of an EQC customer promises to be simple and worry-free starting from booking the car online or offline, financing, wall box installation, to charging and service facilities available across our network," Schwenk said. "In addition, we are also working towards setting up fast DC chargers on popular routes in tandem with our expansive network spread."
A 50KW DC fast charger can fully charge the battery in 90 minutes and to 80 percent in 40 minutes. It can also be charged from the normal 2.4 kwh household electric socket but it will take 21 hours to charge it fully.