Electric vehicles contribute to 5 per cent of German luxury carmaker Mercedes-Benz sales in India. The company launched its electric EQE 500 4MATIC SUV on Friday in Pune.

The luxury car is priced at ₹1.39 crore and comes with a 90.56 kWh battery with 858 nm torque and a top-speed of 210 kmph. The EQE 500 4MATIC SUV has a range of 550 km on a single charge.

“We started with EQB, EQS and now EQE. We are trying to make the products as fully equipped cars with the latest technology. With the EQE, we will offer a 10-year warranty that is the highest-ever in the industry. We are confident that the cars will last for 15 to 20 years and the battery can later be repurposed. The company will also give a five-year resale value guarantee for the electric vehicle as the GLE. The residual value of GLE is 50 per cent,” said Santosh Iyer, Managing Director and CEO, Mercedes-Benz India to businessline. 

Mercedes-Benz India will also offer a ‘customer experience centre’ for first-time car deliverers, with personalised consulting.

EV infrastructure

The company, that has 140 charging stations including AC, 60 kW DC fast chargers and 180 kW DC ultra-fast chargers will open its network to all electric vehicles in the country.

The electric vehicle charging at the Mercedes-Benz charging stations will be available at ₹20-Rs.22 per kilowatt.

Further, the company has partnered with aggregators and developed an application that would provide its customers access to 250 fast chargers.

“Electric vehicles are not a volume driver and currently the sales are between 4 to 5 per cent. It is more on the development of the ecosystem,” said Santosh. 

Mercedes-Benz India has an order book of 3,500 cars and has a waiting period ranging from one month to 24 months. The EQB had a waiting period of four to six months which was brought down to one month.

Chauffeur clinics

The carmaker has also started Chauffer clinics across the country to address range anxiety and training for electric vehicles.

The training is being given to electric vehicle and combustible engine drivers.

“We want to address the range anxiety in electric vehicles and are offering training programmes. This is to educate about electric vehicles, charging of cars and how often to charge,” added Santosh. 

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