MY NEW Year’s resolution is to work harder so I can afford something nice to drive, say an electric Mercedes. If you’re already there, then maybe you have something a bit more noble to shoot for, such as reducing your carbon footprint. 

Either way, here’s a car for both aims. The nice thing about the EQE SUV is not how futuristic it feels to drive, but how familiar. Approach the car jauntily (or moodily, it’s a free country), and its door handles pop out to greet you. Climb aboard, belt up and push the “Start” button to power it up. Flick the transmission selector down to “D”, and off you go. It’s an electric car, but it’s a Mercedes first.

That being so, even though its badge seems like something scooped from a bowl of alphabet soup, you can apply some ready Mercedes logic to the EQE SUV’s name: the “EQ” bit tells you it’s electric, the “E” corresponds to its rough place in the brand’s line-up (namely, the E-Class category), and the “SUV” tag – well, that’s self-explanatory.

There’s been an EQE knocking about in four-door saloon form for about a year now, but this sport utility vehicle version brings something new to the EV market.

For a start, it’s a much more practical and versatile package than the EQE saloon, whose sculpted shape and low-slung stance help to wring as much range as possible from the battery, but also make it almost like a sportscar to get in and out of.

In contrast, the EQE SUV’s height means anyone above the age of 40 can climb aboard without groaning. If you’re the kind who tends to use their Mercedes from the back, it’s a much roomier proposition, too.

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Then of course, the boot is cavernous; Mercedes says you can fit 520 litres of stuff back there (versus a paltry 430 litres for the sedan), and that’s before you tip the back seats down. If you have what marketing people call a “lifestyle”, your EQE SUV will help you flaunt the fact.

Beyond all that space, the EQE SUV has the same user interface as the EQE. The broad, minimalist dashboard has a portrait-oriented 12.8-inch touchscreen that looks fabulous and is a doddle to use. The same goes for the 12.3-inch driver display, which you can customise. The buttons and sliders on the steering wheel are a bit fiddly, but at least they’re fiddly in the same way they are in other Mercs.

Another typical Mercedes feature is the gorgeous cabin lighting, which really does a lot to set the tone of the place to suit your mood, especially since you can set both the hue and intensity of the lights.

Where the EQE SUV suffers in comparison to the saloon is in the way it drives.

Like most electric cars, it takes off at the speed of thought. But despite the immediate way it accelerates, there’s a softness to everything, as if a pliant layer of rubber insulates the driver from the car. The handling feels stable and secure, but the steering comes across as remote, so the Mercedes never really pulls out a devilish pitchfork to jab you into burning some rubber. 

On the plus side, the EQE SUV is actually as manoeuvrable as the smallest Mercedes models. It comes with rear-axle steering, so it pulls off tight u-turns like a four-wheeled ballerina. 

For now, the lone variant here is the EQE 300 with a single rear motor and 245 horsepower, with a quicker, more powerful EQE 350+ on the way. But sportiness is the wrong thing to demand from this Mercedes. 

Instead, the EQE SUV does comfort, and does it like a champ. It rides serenely for an EV, and the cabin seals out noise like a bank vault. And though it’s not as sleek as Mercedes’ electric saloons, it’s still as polished as a shiny pebble, which helps boost the range. Most owners will be able to cover a week’s motoring before needing to look for a charger.  

That smooth shape does come with quirks. The front and rear screens are small enough to make it hard to see out of the car, so it’s just as well there are excellent parking cameras. 

For all that, my biggest gripe with the EQE SUV is not about the concept, but the execution. It feels built down to a cost and plasticky in places, perhaps to hack away at weight or cost because batteries are heavy and expensive.

That being so, even though lounging in the car is comfy, it just doesn’t feel plush, the way it would in a more traditional Benz, especially in the back.

In fact, the catches for adjusting the rear seat angle look suspiciously like the ones from the A-Class hatchback. Do things like that matter in a car like this? The Mercedes-EQ line-up is meant to be about understated luxury, so maybe not. Then again, cheap interior parts in an expensive car are hard to forgive, whatever the technology beneath the bonnet.

But whatever the reason you fancy an electric Mercedes – guilt about the climate, the sense of tech-savviness, the on-road manners – the EQE SUV is a titan of comfort and practicality. I can see it selling on those attributes alone. Just because a car is electric, it doesn’t mean sparks have to fly.

Mercedes-EQ EQE 300 SUV Electric Art Motor power/torque 245 hp/550 Nm Battery type/net capacity Lithium-ion/90.6 kWh Charging Type/Time 9.5 hours 10 to 100 per cent (11 kW AC), 32 minutes 10 to 80 per cent (170 kW DC) Range 553 km (estimated) 0-100 kmh 7.6 seconds Top speed 210 km Efficiency 18.9 kWh/100 km Agent Cycle & Carriage Price S$442,888 with COE Available Now