Earlier on, my experience was that one turned green only with envy. Nowadays however, ‘green’ is a buzzword for going eco-friendly or at least when you think you are doing so. Car manufacturers are also now part of this movement (doesn’t matter if the electricity generated for charging is not green) and everyone is satisfied – something like instant coffee.
High-end cars have been the biggest champions of this change and now we have the next ‘green’ car in the Mercedes-Benz India line-up – the EQE. Essentially, an all-electric version of the highly popular GLE, the EQE is an amazingly refined SUV and then some. Let’s start with the looks.
A sleek, low-slung and very aerodynamic shape makes the EQE look aggressive in its own way. Granted, you do not have the upright looks of the GLE, but there is a purposeful stance here. Being an electric vehicle, you do not require a front grill for cooling, so instead you will find a massive black component with the Mercedes logos all over it. You get a light strip part, and dual projector LED headlamps. You do get skid plates front and rear and illuminated running boards on either side and 20-inch low drag alloys to complete the SUV package. The door handles are illuminated too, and at the rear a similar light strip connects the taillights on either side.
On the inside, if you are a tech junkie like me, you will be in heaven. The first thing to hit you is the massive 56-inch (yes, 56!) OLED screen that spans from the driver side to the passenger side. It’s made up of three massive displays, which includes the instrument cluster, center display and now, a passenger side display as well. The quality of the screen is absolutely gorgeous with crisp displays and pin sharp pixels. It is extremely responsive and even the front passenger can stay entertained with a full suite of features to play from, from the main display including watching movies as well, as long as they use headphones! You also get a heads-up display (HUD), front ventilated seats with massage function, ambient lighting with a huge number of customisation capabilities, and of course that amazing Burmester 14 speaker + Subwoofer 3D sound system with 710 watts of power! It even has Dolby Atmos, which I think is a first for any car in India – takes any genre of music to the next level. Rear legroom is generous at 3030mm; the only thing that I found a little tricky was the lack of under thigh support. Being a Completely Built up Unit (CBU) you don’t get rear window blinds either.
Electric vehicles give you a certain driving kick that you will not get out of ICE cars, and the EQE is no exception. With a massive 402 horses and 858Nm of torque, this beast will happily accelerate to 100kmph in 4.9 seconds and onto a top speed of 210kmph. Worried about the range? Don’t be. With a massive 90.5kWh battery running on a 400 volt system, the claimed range is 550 kilometres, which means you should get around 450 kilometres in the real world easily. Mercedes India is also offering a 10 year/2,50,000 kilometres warranty on the battery, and you need to get the vehicle serviced only once in 2 years.
All this is cool, but how much does the beast cost? The EQE retails for INR 1.39 crores, ex-showroom and that is because it’s a CBU and not assembled in India. The EQE fulfils your green ambitions, but comes at a price. It’s not a product for everyone, but for those who want to give their style a greener drive.