During the 1950s, with new Soviet tanks such as the T-54 and T-10 entering service, the need for a new design to counter these heavily armoured threats was becoming more and more urgent. Taking a more unconventional approach, prioritising a low profile and high mobility, AMX came up with a lightly armoured tank destroyer based on the Hotchkiss CC2 APC. The first of multiple prototypes of the ELC was fitted with the TC901 turret in 1956, featuring a 90 mm low-pressure cannon and very thin armour, as well as a crew of just a driver and a gunner. The tank's performance, although satisfactory, revealed major flaws with the design, the most notable of which was its inability to effectively engage targets at long range due to the lack of a rangefinder, which was ultimately fixed with the revised TC902 turret.

Introduced during Update 2.53 "Line of Contact" as the main reward for Battle Pass: Season XXII, "The Elusive Musketeer", the ELC 901 is very similar to the AMX ELC Bis. Featuring a very small profile and good mobility, the ELC 901 is a master flanker that is also able to hold its own even in direct head-on engagements due to its powerful main cannon. Despite its thin armour, the survivability of the ELC 901 is surprisingly good, thanks to a frontally mounted engine and transmission, which can stop some APHE shells before they reach the crew compartment. Unfortunately, the hull sides as well as the turret have very thin armour, which can easily be penetrated by heavy machine guns even at medium range; when paired with the very limited horizontal traverse angles of just ±20°, this can be a guaranteed trip back to the hangar if you get engaged from the side.