Imagine an electric car that would allow you to get from the centre of London to the car park at the UK’s northernmost point at Dunnet Head, near John o’ Groats, on a single battery charge – almost 700 miles – with absolutely no compromise in speed, comfort or, most important of all, driving enjoyment.
Not possible? One manufacturer is convinced it is and that's why the Mercedes Vision EQXX concept is here to prove it.
The rear-wheel-drive saloon acts as a showcase for the sort of electric driveline technology, aerodynamic developments and lightweight construction Mercedes says it is pursuing for future production models. Unlike most concepts, it is fully road legal. Officially, the new four-door is claimed to achieve 7.5 miles per kWh – twice as efficient as the recently introduced Mercedes EQE 350. With a specially constructed 100kWh battery integrated into its flat floor, this gives it a theoretical range of over 700 miles.
By comparison, the rear-drive EQE 350 with a 90.6kWh battery has a claimed range of 410 miles. The 900V unit features the latest lithium ion cells from CATL. They use a silicon anode and are claimed to provide an energy density of up to 400Wh per litre, making them far more energy efficient than the cells used in the batteries fitted to existing EQ electric models.It is also claimed to be 50% smaller and 30% lighter than today’s batteries.
Mercedes has already shown the potential of the Vision EQXX in two development drives, the latest of which was from Stuttgart to Goodwood, a distance of 747 miles, without the need for recharging. However, this was achieved by a team of highly trained test drivers with real-time access to all the information thrown up by a boot full of data loggers and in constant radio contact with engineers back at Mercedes’ base in Germany.
Nevertheless, so confident is Mercedes in the Vision EQXX’s ability to hit lofty efficiency targets with any driver at the wheel that it has just thrown me the key and told me to go for a drive to find out for myself just what is possible. Not just a low-speed tootle up the road and back, either, but a proper run along a series of undulating roads in and around its sprawling Immendingen R&D facility.
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The broad point about lithium is that wherever it comes from, China processes most of it. I totally love this car especially the 0.17 cd. It needs to be the future of EVs, rather than tall blunt SUVs. But the batteries are by Chinese mega-giant CATL. Quite apart from geopolitical considerations (Ukraine, Taiwan etc) there is no green Chinese car battery. Rather, they are the cheapest battery because the environmental costs have been totally ignored. The reference here is The Rare Metals War by Guillaume Pitron. He visited the Chinese mines. There is a world of human pain and terrible posioning, behind these glossy long range EVs. You can say the same about oil and the Niger Delta, perhaps, but my understanding from that book is that big oil is not as damaging as big batteries and we are about to unleash the mother of all mining booms to get at these materials - many underneath rainforest and other sensitive sites. So it troubles me. I don't have the answer. I did get 75mpg out of my Yaris hybrid crossing Europe last week with a tiny weeny traction battery. So that's the most efficiency for the least impact as things stand and its why I bought it. Old 996 911 Targa for high days and holidays only.
Its great that Mercedes think the future looks like this, and not an SUV!
Lets hope if they do productionise it, they get rid of that awful screen, and stick a simple one, or just a couple of dials in its place.