At CES 2022, Mercedes-Benz unveiled the Vision Eqxx, a solar-powered concept EV with more than 1000km of range on a single charge. The unveiling was actually done virtually, due to the obvious reason we’re all quite familiar with already.
I’m not the biggest gearhead and have never been too enthusiastic about cars, but I can appreciate a cool car when I see one. The Vision Eqxx is beautiful, both inside and out.
Vision Eqxx: Specifications
The 1000km range on this car is simply ridiculous. We’re not even in the EV ballpark anymore. To give you an example, we found that the Proton Saga 2019 can travel a total of 655.6km with its single 40L tank, while Vision Eqxx can do almost double that. The Tesla Model S Long Range Plus can only go about 646km on a single charge as well. The distance between Kuala Lumpur and Penang is about 330km by road, which means you can make the trip three times with the Vision Eqxx and still have some juice left in the battery.
Mercedes calculated this range figure by simulating real-life conditions. The Vision Eqxx is claimed to consume energy at 10kWh per 100km, which is equivalent to saying 378km per gallon or 1L of petrol per 100km. As an engineer, I really admire how they didn’t just double the battery capacity to achieve the range. They really pull out all the stops in “drivetrain efficiency, energy density, aerodynamics, and lightweight design… The result is an efficiency masterpiece.”
It has to be said that this EV range is just an estimate and has not been independently verified, but it’s still really cool to see what the future of EVs will look like in the future.
All this talk about the impressive range makes you forget that the car is powered by solar panels, 117 to be exact. Located on the roof of the car, the solar cells don’t fully power the car but are there to add up to 25km of range on long-distance trips.
On the inside, there is a 47.5-inch full-width 8K resolution screen that acts as the infotainment system. They also plan to develop “the first realtime 3D navigation system” which will feature satellite view down to a height of 10 meters.
The car is quite light for a luxury EV, being only 1,750kg. Design-wise, the Vision Eqxx highlights both opulence and futurism with its sleek contours and lighting elements. The shape of the car even scores it a drag co-efficient of 0.17 based on a 140km/h wind tunnel test, which is even better than the impressive 0.20 drag coefficient on the Mercedes EQS.
This project is part of Mercedes’ fully electric future, with plans to commit EUR 40 billion (~RM189 billion) to be all-electric by 2030. They’ve even teamed up with Petronas to deliver DC fast EV chargers to Malaysian petrol stations by H1 2022.
The Mercedes Vision Eqxx is a concept car with no plans to be on the production line anytime soon so there is no pricing for this car yet, but let’s just hope they get to working on it as soon as possible.
[ SOURCE, IMAGE SOURCE ]
