Mercedes-Benz EQXX is the family sized EV that thanks to the latest technology has a real world range of 1200km+ on a single charge of its 100kWh battery. I join the team behind the car on the Green Mille Miglia in Italy to find out how it does it and how soon we will be able to buy an EV this efficient from our local Mercedes dealer.
Mercedes EQXX; the family sized EV with a 1200km range on a single charge. How is this possible?
The Mercedes EQXX is more real-world ready than you would think. YouTuber Harry Metcalfe gets to experience the car and talk with engineers.
Electric cars are an inevitability. And we’ve already seen huge leaps and bounds in the tech sector that maked these cars possible. But tech moves fast, and current EV’s are almost already considered old hat. Be it through different ways of moving flux through a motor, like the Vision One-Eleven, or the overall approach to a car, like the EQXX. As a car enthusiast, Harry Metcalfe is interested in the way the industry is going (even if he prefers good ole piston power). Still the fascination with tech on the EQXX is plenty enough to delight any car nerd.
Metcalfe is joined on this drive with Mercedes Electric Drive Engineer, Friedemann Flache. Flache was responsible for the incredible 1000km drive the EQXX completed earlier this year. And being directly involved with this EV means he can give Harry all the details.
Surprisingly, some details on the car sound very sporty. “We have fiberglass springs, direct steering, we sit very low,” Flache explains. And that “lowness” comes from the car’s design. “Sixty percent of the car’s efficiency comes from the car’s aerodynamics.” And with a drag cD of 0.17, it’s one of the most slippery shapes ever made. An active rear diffuser lowers and extends at speeds as low as 50 miles per hour to accomplish this drag ratio.
But the battery tech is also important, too. Using high silicone anode tech, this battery weighs just 495kg, which is about 200 kg lighter than a similar battery of equal performance. When trying to make a car more efficient, weight is of extremely high importance. The battery tech is also so new, that there’s really not much related to the system in this car compared to systems already in place for the AMG ONE.
Metcalf comes away impressed with the whole experience, though. “I’ve struggled with the direction of just adding range to a car by just building a bigger battery,” he bemuses. And clearly, Mercedes are doing far more than that with the EQXX. Instead of taking an existing ICE powered car and converting it to electric, or trying to make an electric SUV which wouldn’t cut through the air as cleanly, Mercedes instead opted to go with a usable, 4-door approach for a long range EV. And while this car won’t ever see production, the technology inside of it will be in future cars.
