Mercedes-Benz reiterates commitment to release 10 pure electric cars by 2022

Mercedes-Benz India has reiterated its commitment to release 10 plus pure electric cars across all segments by 2022. Martin Schwenk, the automobile company’s MD & CEO, confirmed this at the launch of its first all-electric offering EQC.

This is the first product from the latest sub-brand EQ of Mercedes-Benz. The EQC is a SUV capable of accelerating from 0 to 100 km/hr in 5.1 seconds with a top speed of 190 km/hr and range of 471 km on single charge. Moreover, this vehicle can be filly charged in 10 hours via a regular charger unit, while the DC fast charger brings down the charging time about 0 to 80 per cent, to just 90 minutes. The vehicle carries a warranty of five years. To be imported as CBU for sale, the first 50 units have been priced Rs 99.3 lakh. The EQC shares its underpinning with the conventionally-powered Mercedes GLC.

Santosh Iyer, Vice-President Sales and Marketing Mercedes-Benz India, said they have a clear ambition of zero emission vehicles by 2039. “To fit in there, we say that 50 per cent of all cars we sell have to be electric by 2030,” he said. Iyer pointed out that the German carmaker stepped into the Indian market 245 years ago. “At that time, the luxury market was not mature enough. But we made the investments and we are reaping the benefits.”

The automobile company is ensuring that while the EQC itself has claimed range of over 450 km, a wall mount charge unit which included in the electric vehicle’s price, is also fitted at a customer’s preferred location. Iyer said they are also putting 100 charging points at their dealer networks. He highlighted that the public charging infrastructure are all part of the EQC ecosystem.

Schwenk pointed out that the electric vehicle ecosystem in India is driven by government policies. He said government initiatives have started to bear fruit with the creation of an enabling framework to kickstart the adoption of electric mobility in the country. The Center, in 2019, had slashed GST rates from 12 per cent to five per cent on zero-emission vehicles to attract foreign investments in EV technology and reduce the cost of ownership.