Mercedes EQXX Shatters Electric Vehicle Range Record with Cross Continental Run

Mercedes, a brand that as little as 10 years ago you might have have associated with past luxury, like your dad’s Cadillac, has emerged as an auto tech leader with the EQXX. The venerable automaker, maker of the first automobile,[i] has accelerated to the front of automotive tech superiority with the EQXX, a close-to-production test vehicle.

It is as if the ghost of German mechanical engineer and founder of Mercedes Benz, Karl Benz, had been humoring the boys from Tesla and Lucid – the whole new crop of self-declared automakers – saying “Let me show you how it can be done.”

On a sunny day in May, an EQXX set off from Sindelfingen, Germany to Silverstone, England, 1200 km (750 miles) away. When it reached its destination, it may have shown a cure to range anxiety, an affliction suffered by every EV driver. The EQXX still had a 140 km in the tank, so to speak. The current record holder for production EVs is the Lucid Air with a 520-mile range, followed by the Tesla Model S with 405 miles.

Was It the Solar Cells?

A top covered with solar cells. Don't get too excited. They only power the fans, lights, dashboard... (Image courtesy of Mercedes.)

More credit than is deserved for the range record will go to the 117 solar cells on the roof of the EQXX. The public, hungry for an environmental or sustainability story, will certainly feast on the solar assist, like my neighborhood pizza shop that emblazons its sigs and packaging with “solar powered.” Like my pizza store, the EQXX gets little assistance from the solar cells. The EQXX solar system saved 43 miles of range on the trip. It was used to power accessories such as the sound system, lighting, ventilation fans and the dashboard display – all of which the record-seeking Mercedes team would made minimum use of during the trip.

The shape is the slickest (aerodynamically) of any vehicle that has taken to the road on four wheels with a C_d(coefficient of drag) of 0.17. That’s half of what is typical for a modern sedan and significantly less than Tesla’s Model S (0.24).

What's behind you is of no concern. Where the rear window would be is covered with solar cells. (Picture courtesy of Mercedes)

There’s more going on aerodynamically in the back of the EQXX than in the front. The rear body is extended far to the rear top and bottom and partially on the sides, giving the car a gaping mouth look like a whale shark open for business. We can only hope this was done for aerodynamic advantage and not purely for style.

As always with press releases, it’s important to look for what is missing. The EQXX has no exhaust pipes. Of course, it’s electric. But no rear window? You don’t need it, not with rear facing cameras, Mercedes would say. You don’t need to turn awkwardly between rear passengers when backing up. There are no wheel well covers on the rear wheels. Far be it from us to question Mercedes engineers, but wouldn’t wheel well covers have lowered the drag coefficient even further?

Does this look like a test car to you? The EQXX appears to be closer to production than most concept vehicles. (Image courtesy of Mercedes.)

When can you buy an EQXX? Sorry, the EQXX is not for sale. Not yet. But unlike built-for-distance test cars which are usually stripped of all comfort, going for weight saving at any cost, with an anemic motor, the EQXX is pretty far along the design cycle for a Mercedes production vehicle. The 242 HP output is enough to get its 1770 kg mass to 100 km/h (62 mph) in 7 seconds. It would be left in the dust of even the cheapest Tesla (the Model 3, 5.3 seconds) but it would be ahead of a Toyota Prius (10.6 seconds). The interior is appointed in the sporty/stylish manner of it C class line. It even has rear view mirrors, shunned on aerodynamics-first test cars.

[i] The 1886 Benz Patent-Motorwagen is widely recognized as the world's first practical automobile.