Mercedes Benz launched the EQXX concept with one big claim, it can run for 1,000 km on a single charge. Today, they are releasing the results of a road trip using the car to see if it would last that long in a real life test.
The trip began in cold rainy conditions in Sindelfingen, Germany, and successfully crossed the finish line in the town of Cassis on the Côte d’Azur in the south of France. That took the EQXX concept car through 4 countries, Germany, Switzerland, Italy and France with temperatures ranging from 3 to 18 degrees Celsius (37 to 64 degrees Fahrenheit), and an average speed of 54 mph.
The trip lasted 11 hours and 32 minutes covering 1,008 km (626 miles) without recharging. The most impressive part, the vehicle still had a range of 140 km (87 miles) left in the battery. These numbers indicated an average consumption of a record-breaking 8.7 kWh per 100 kilometers. For comparison, Mercedes-Benz mass production electric vehicle, the EQS averages around 29.5 kWh/100km, or 3.39 miles/kWh.
The EQXX didn’t achieve this record number by stuffing in huge batteries, instead it was engineered to have a very low drag coefficient of 0.17, relatively low weight of 1,750 kg (3,858 pounds) and the 117 solar cells on its roof. Energy from the solar cells charge a 12-volt battery which runs auxiliary systems, like infotainment and climate, thus allowing the car to preserve the charge from its main battery pack. In the road trip test, the team said only 2% of extra range came from the solar roof.
“First we optimise efficiency, and then we can see how many battery modules we put in the car,” Schaefer said at a media roundtable, adding that customers should be able to decide the size of the battery they want based on their needs.
Mercedes promised that some of the EQXX technologies would make their way into series vehicles in 2-3 years time.