India has had pure-electric cars for a while now. India has had luxury cars for even longer. But India has never had something that offered the best of both those aspects. Until now. Say hello to the Mercedes-Benz EQC – India’s first luxury EV. It arrives via the CBU (Completely Built Unit) route, boasting a price tag of Rs 99.3 lakh (on-road). That price is for the first fifty units only.

Even though the EQC weighs just shy of 2.5 tonnes (kerb), it can still hit 100kmph from a standstill in 5.1 seconds. As for the top speed, that’s electronically-limited to 180kmph. Both those performance figures come courtesy of two electric motors which jointly produce 402bhp/760Nm and offer all-wheel-drive as well. They get their juices from an 80 kWh lithium-ion battery. As per WLTP (Worldwide Harmonised Light Vehicles Test Procedure), the EQC can travel up to 405km (450km as per NEDC) on a single charge.

One can replenish the EQC’s onboard battery pack using either AC (slow) or DC (fast) electricity feeds. Mercedes-Benz provides a 7.4 kW charger with every EQC which, when plugged into a dedicated AC feed (wall box), will take around 11 hours to charge the battery from 10 to 100 per cent. If that’s no good, one can plug in a DC feed of up to 110 kW. Under ideal conditions, that will charge the EQC from 10 to 80 per cent in about 40 minutes. Another example would be plugging the car into a 50 kW electricity feed which, depending on the conditions, charges the battery from 10 to 100 per cent in 90 minutes.

Time to move away from math and get acquainted with the EQC’s list of features. It comes with 19-inch alloy wheels, Multibeam LED headlights, 64-colour ambient lighting and Keyless-Go, which covers hands-free access, automatic powered boot closing, keyless entry and keyless start. What else? The list also includes two 10.25-inch displays (one each for the instrument cluster and infotainment purposes), heated and electrically-adjustable front seats, self-levelling rear air suspension and cruise control.

In phase 1, Mercedes-Benz India will sell the EQC in cities across India – Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Bengaluru, Chennai and Hyderabad. Presently, there are no rivals for the Mercedes-Benz EQC in India. So, if you want a luxury car which produces zero tailpipe emissions, you don’t have to look anywhere else. Soon (hopefully!), both Jaguar (I-Pace) and Audi (e-tron) will land their offerings in the same space.