Mercedes-Benz Vision EQXX: the electric car with a 1,000 km range, closer than ever

An electric vehicle with a consumption of less than 10 kWh per 100 km, capable of covering up to 1,000 km on a single charge? For now it is a prototype: the new Mercedes-Benz Vision EQXX. But also a statement of intent.

At least that is how Mercedes presented it at the CES in Las Vegas. The star brand has put all of its available technology into this prototype in order to bring to market the most efficient car it has ever built. Furthermore, they boast – or rather warn the competition – that the Vision EQXX is not just a “show car”, but part of an advanced development programme that will allow the brand to bring new solutions to series production in especially short periods of time.

Does this mean we will soon see a street-legal EQXX? They have not yet commented on this. But judging by the images, you can bet that the EQXX would not need many changes to shine at a brand dealership tomorrow. Another matter is the range it may ultimately homologate, since the 1,000 km announced for the EQXX are a “digital simulation that recreates real conditions”.

But at least it is one more step towards a near future in which range will stop being a drawback for electric cars.

A matter of efficiency

A first piece of data reveals how ambitious the EQXX project of Mercedes is, and also explains that range figure, already comparable to the distance a turbodiesel car can travel without refuelling. Mercedes-Benz says the EQXX’s propulsion system reaches 95% efficiency, compared with 75% for “conventional” electric cars. And to achieve this impressive figure, work has been done on absolutely every area of the car.

To begin with, the battery, developed in collaboration with the Formula 1 experts at Mercedes-AMG High Performance Powertrains (HPP), has a capacity of 100 kWh. Nothing new or surprising, except that it is 50% more compact than that of the Mercedes EQS and, with a total weight of 495 kg, 30% lighter. If I had a Mercedes-Benz EQS and it wasn’t a leasing car, I would already be very worried… and that is just after it went on sale.

The secret of this battery, in addition to its 900-volt technology (thus exceeding the 800 volts used by the Hyundai IONIQ 5, Porsche Taycan or Kia EV6), is the high energy density achieved by the Mercedes engineers, no less than 400 Wh/l. This is possible, to a large extent, thanks to the use of special anodes with a higher silicon content. Also the architecture called “OneBox”, which makes it possible to separate the electrical and electronic components, creating more space for the cells.

As for the power electronics, they are derived from those used in the Mercedes-AMG Project ONE hypercar. The thermal management system is also innovative, with a “on-demand cooling” concept that combines an airflow management system with a cooling plate under the vehicle.

Another system used in the EQXX that we could soon see in Mercedes’s road-going electric cars is the new multi-function heat pump concept, which not only recovers waste heat from the propulsion system but also uses an external heat exchanger that extracts heat from the ambient air.

Everything adds up: rolling resistance, aerodynamics, solar panels on the roof…

So far Mercedes has not revealed much technical data about the EQXX, such as performance or exterior dimensions. It does announce the electric motor’s output: 150 kW, as well as the wheelbase, 2.80 metres. The total weight of the vehicle is 1,750 kg, thanks to the various lightweight construction technologies used.

However, one figure does stand out, and it is closely related to range: the drag coefficient. Mercedes announces a Cx of just 0.17, with a frontal area even smaller than that of a Mercedes CLA. Let us recall that the Mercedes EQS was recently presented as the series-production car with the best aerodynamics in the world, with a Cx of 0.20; the record will not last long. Noteworthy in the EQXX’s streamlined silhouette are the cooling air control system with active shutters, the aerodynamically designed wheels, the optimised wing mirrors (conventional, not virtual) and, above all, the sharply sloping rear with a double active diffuser.

Of course, we will have to see how such a design, devoted to aerodynamic efficiency, affects the space in the rear seats. It is also curious that, in order to benefit airflow, the rear track is 50 mm narrower than the front.

Other special features of the Mercedes EQXX, directly related to efficiency and range, are the roof with photovoltaic cells and the tyres. The roof has 117 cells which, according to Mercedes, add roughly 25 km of range on a sunny day in ideal conditions. And the tyres, developed by Bridgestone, have ultra-low rolling resistance, and are fitted to forged wheels made of magnesium.

By the way, allowing for differences, this Mercedes EQXX has a lot in common with another electric car presented a couple of years ago, which also boasted of its range: the Lightyear One. Is it just me, or do you think the same?

The interior design of the Mercedes EQXX

And for those of us who thought that with the Hyperscreen of the Mercedes EQS we had reached the very peak, watch out for the EQXX: here there is no dashboard as such, since the whole dashboard is a screen spanning the width of the car, with no less than 47.5 inches and 8K resolution, which literally connects the driver and passengers with the car and the outside world.

The complexity has been maximal, above all for the experts tasked with developing the first real-time 3D navigation system for a screen of this size. But also to make it energy-efficient. To this end a mini-LED backlighting system with more than 3,000 local dimming zones is used, which allows the screen to consume energy only in the specific areas where it is needed. A new interface has also been developed, an evolution of the one used in the EQS, which dispenses with submenus and works proactively, showing what is needed, with a particularly intuitive zoom function.

From here on, the remaining descriptions of the EQXX’s interior sound more like an exhibition car, or even genuine science fiction: a 4D digital sound system, neuromorphic computing for information processing, bionic simulations… For now, we will be content with the 1,000 km of range being met.

Mercedes-Benz EQXX image gallery