Mercedes-Benz further improves the energy efficiency of the VISION EQXX

The VISION EQXX from Mercedes-Benz has done it again, covering more than 1,000 kilometres once more on a single charge. This would not normally be news, were it not for the fact that this time it has achieved this with an even lower energy consumption, according to the German manufacturer’s latest announcement.

On this occasion, the engineers from the star brand took the EQXX to Saudi Arabia, to drive the route linking the country’s capital, Riyadh, with Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. Wide motorways with very little traffic and the pleasant temperatures enjoyed in this part of the world at this time of year have undoubtedly been key factors in achieving a level of efficiency never before seen in a model so close to series production.

According to Mercedes-Benz, the EQXX covered the 1,010 km of this route on a single charge of its 100 kWh battery pack. The manufacturer reports an efficiency level in this case of 7.4 kWh per 100 km travelled. This makes it clear that either the battery pack was not charged to full capacity or there was still energy left in it once the route was completed.

Without giving up anything

The feat achieved by Mercedes-Benz does not end there, however. The German manufacturer claims that during the journey the air conditioning was switched on for the entire trip, unlike other occasions on which the EQXX has set new efficiency and range records. The secret behind making this possible, explains Mercedes-Benz, has been the integration of a new “multi-source” heat pump, which has allowed energy losses to be reduced to a minimum while keeping the cabin at a comfortable temperature.

Markus Schäfer, the head of technology at Mercedes-Benz AG, wanted to highlight the fact that the EQXX continues to provide the brand’s engineers with highly valuable data from performance tests, which will be of great help in developing new technologies to improve the efficiency of Mercedes-Benz’s series-production electric vehicles. All of the EQXX’s systems worked perfectly in the desert, he assured, and all the difficulties caused by road conditions, temperature or airborne dust were overcome.

In 2022, Mercedes-Benz had already managed to cover the more than 1,000 kilometres separating Sindelfingen in Germany from the French town of Cassis on the Côte d’Azur. On that occasion, however, energy consumption was somewhat higher. Shortly afterwards, that same year, the EQXX covered the more than 1,200 km separating Stuttgart from Silverstone in the United Kingdom on a single charge. A longer distance on that occasion, but also with somewhat higher energy consumption.