Mercedes-Benz is the latest automaker to make a grab for the title of the longest-range electric vehicle with the reveal of the Vision EQXX, a solar-powered concept car capable of exceeding 1,000 kilometers (648 miles) on a single charge.
The coupe-like sedan features a highly aero-efficient design and a lighter, smaller battery pack than existing Mercedes EVs. It also uses both recycled and bio-engineered materials – such as a mushroom-based vegan “leather” – to improve its sustainability.
“The Vision EQXX is all about creating a holistically better electric car that looks stunning and futuristic,” said Daimler and Mercedes Chairman Ola Källenius, during a CES presentation. Like a number of other participants, the German automaker canceled its CES participation and shifted to a virtual presence due to the latest COVID wave.
Lighter, Less Drag, More Efficient Batteries
Mercedes is in the midst of rolling out a wave of long-range battery-electric vehicles, including the EQS sedan that will be its first entry into the U.S. market.
Like the EQS, the EQXX concept puts a premium on efficiency, starting with a “one-bow” aerodynamic shape that would, in production, be the most aero-efficient vehicle on the market. It has a drag coefficient of 0.17 compared to the EQS’s 0.20.
That’s one way to improve efficiency. And Mercedes engineers have come up with quite a few others. For the batteries, they’ve adopted a high-silicon anode and other improvements to the cells used in the Vision EQXX. As a result, they’re 50% smaller and 30% lighter than those found in the EQS. That helps hold the total mass of the coupe-like sedan to 3,850 pounds, about 1,600 pounds less than the larger EQS, and 400 pounds less than a conventionally powered CLS sedan.
Solar Cells on the Roof
What Mercedes is doing with its batteries, other automakers are working to deliver as well: making them weigh less and fit in smaller spaces. They’re also working on cutting recharge time. Every automaker wants to cut recharge time to as little as 10 or 15 minutes, not much longer than a gasoline fill-up.
Other improvements reduce energy losses in the Vision concept’s electronics and the battery pack’s climate control system. And a roof covered with solar cells helps charge up a secondary battery powering ancillary vehicle systems. All told, about 95% of the energy contained in the batteries reached the wheels, compared to 75% with the EQS. Measured another way, the EQXX gets the equivalent of 235 miles per gallon.
“Efficiency is the new currency,” said Mercedes’ R&D chief Markus Schafer.
The EQXX also demonstrates new ways to enhance vehicle sustainability, especially in the cabin. Recycled and natural materials are used extensively, said interior design leader Joana Jarisch. Mycelium, part of the root-like structure of mushrooms, is used to produce “the look and feel” of real leather.
The EQS started out as a show car, the Vision EQS of 2019. There has been speculation the EQXX might also wind up in production, in part because the concept, as it stands now, is seen as buildable without major changes. For now, Mercedes officials are saying only that “Many of its features and developments are already being integrated” into other production models the company is working on.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Technology Express staff and is published from a syndicated feed)
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