With the Vision EQXX, Mercedes recently presented an electric research car with a battery that lasts for 1,200 kilometers. The engineers in the group are already considering using the findings from the study for series production. A short road trip with the concept car shows what it can and cannot do.
If you will, the Vision EQXX is a bit like a Mercedes 200 D – only transferred to modern times. Since the Mercedes fin era at the end of the 1950s, the “200 D” label has stood for extreme economy, but also for slowness. Memories of this come up when you read in the data sheet that the Vision EQXX only reaches a top speed of 140 kilometers per hour. But that’s only half the truth, because you won’t let him. It could do more than 300 km/h, and that with an output of just 180 kW/245 hp, which is quite modest by today’s standards.
You don’t have to be a physics genius to guess how aerodynamic the test EQ must be: cD 0.17! But the extraordinary sedan shines with other characteristics. The test vehicle weighs just 1755 kilograms and is a real lightweight among e-cars. After all, 100 kWh of battery capacity slumber under the shimmering silver outer skin.
Now Mercedes has invited people to experience the concept themselves at the wheel. He has already proven that the group trusts the EQXX to do quite a few routes. The responsible developers have already been sent from Sindelfingen to southern France for a test drive. In doing so, the EQXX not only had to simply cover the distance, but also overcome quite demanding passages such as the Alps. Not that that’s a problem, but the vehicle technicians completed the road trip with an average consumption of 8.7 kWh.
A second trip from Stuttgart to Silverstone in the UK could even be managed with 8.3 kWh per 100 kilometers – so the battery lasted for a breathtaking 1200 kilometers.
We weren’t allowed to cover that many kilometers with the rolling eye-catcher, but after just a few kilometers we found out that it was stingy with electricity consumption but by no means with driving pleasure. Striking boost from low tempi make the corners of the mouth twitch quickly.
However: You notice immediately that the EQXX could not go into series production like this. Simple seats and a rather rough chassis rob the prototype of any residual comfort. Some things just have to be – for minimum consumption.
Tires in the so-called narrow format of the dimension 185/65 R20 in combination with extremely smooth rim surfaces should offer the wind as little surface as possible. Above all, the engineers are proud of the fact that they were able to do without any visually disturbing wheel covers. In return, they give him a solar roof to take with him, which ideally produces electricity for a distance of 25 kilometers over a sunny day.
But which findings and possibly even components can be implemented in series production in the short or at least in the medium term? In order not to be completely empty-handed when it comes to this question, the Mercedes technicians stripped a standard GLC and fitted it with the EQXX drive train.
The battery pack contains no magic technology, but the electrical engineers managed to drastically increase the energy density. With 400 watt hours per liter volume, the high-tech package stores twice as much electricity as current batteries can take, and Mercedes achieves weight savings of 30 percent.
Of course, the converted GLC still weighs well over two tons. Weight is one of the biggest sticking points in electromobility. But in the later series, a car does not necessarily have to drive around with the 100 kWh pack that the technicians donated to the EQXX.
Incidentally, Mercedes does not push it to the extreme when it comes to charging technology, leaving it at a moderate 100 kW. The argument of the Mercedes engineers: You don’t have to charge the EQXX so hastily, because it can cover well over 1000 kilometers with one battery charge, depending on your driving style.
If the same engineers manage to create a production car in the context of which you combine relatively good aerodynamics with a fairly light 60 kWh battery, you would be a step further. The goals aren’t even that unrealistic. So it remains exciting. On the return journey in the EQE AMG from the Mercedes test center in Immendingen to Stuttgart – a business class car in full series production – the display shows a range of almost 500 kilometers with a charge level of less than 90 percent.