This Mercedes EV is a moonshot machine that can travel 621 miles on a single charge

Setting absurdly ambitious objectives has a way of inspiring individuals to do things that they previously may not have thought were feasible. reach the moon by New Year's Eve 1969 and safely return to Earth? felt insurmountable. But hardworking contractors and staff of NASA managed to make it happen.

The phrase "moonshot" is horribly overused, but Mercedes-Benz executives' decision to create an electric concept car with a range of 1,000 kilometers (621 miles) on public highways without recharging was exactly this type of risky undertaking. Oh, and it would take them just 18 months to develop the automobile from scratch, manufacture it, and demonstrate its functionality during a real 1,000 kilometer road trip. Crazy!

As a result, the Vision EQXX has a low profile. Its slim construction results in a wind-cheating coefficient of drag (CoD) of just 0.17 and it is only 53 inches tall. Anything less than 0.30 is regarded as great in the automotive sector. The score of a football goes from 0.18 to 0.20. The outstanding EQS production model made by Mercedes gets a CoD of 0.20.

The EQS full-size luxury sedan is part of Mercedes' current electric car product range, and the business has a flurry of battery electric vehicles that will soon or soon will be appearing in dealerships. There are four of them: the EQE mid-size SUV, EQE mid-size sport sedan, and EQB small SUV.

At the Mercedes Immendingen test facility in southern Germany, I had the chance to get behind the wheel of the EQXX, a bullet-shaped concept car that is a technical marvel. To my surprise, what I discovered was a polished machine that appears to be ready for showrooms rather than the unique technological advancement that the EQXX really is.

Mercedes pursued efficiency at every turn in an effort to reach this ostensibly unachievable objective, hoping to create a "virtuous circle" of advantages that would lessen the need for a larger, heavier battery pack and motor by minimizing weight and drag. However, they purposefully decided to forgo a few highly obvious design components for drag reduction, which is part of the reason the car looks like it may be on sale next year.

The business wanted anyone who saw the Vision EQXX to think of it as a genuine automobile, not an experiment. The aerodynamics team decided against using rear fender skirts to lessen the aerodynamic drag caused by the rear wheels spinning erratically through the air, and they installed regular, old-fashioned glass mirrors on the doors rather than using cameras as side-view mirrors. As a result, the car's drag-reducing rearward taper was limited to an invisible two inches. They aimed to avoid the drab, initial Honda Insight hybrid-electric from 1999.

The engineers, aerodynamicists, and stylists then achieved that record-breaking 0.17 CoD number while having one hand metaphorically tied behind their backs. One way they did this was by replacing the typical radiator with an underneath cooling plate. This plate's bottom side directs air flow rather than passing through a radiator's cooling fins, which significantly reduces drag. The EQXX incorporates air exhausts in the hood that, when necessary in hot weather, may suck air from beneath the car's front. This feature is known as on-demand cooling. That merely raises the car's coefficient of drag by 0.007.

The automobile also has thin, low-rolling-resistance Bridgestone Turanza Eco tires, which offer the advantages of less aero drag and decreased friction. When the car coasted from 57 kph to 60 kph on a very small downhill straight during the test drive, where a typical automobile would likely soon come to a halt rather than gaining speed, I got to personally see the value of these tires.

The EQXX includes a variety of energy recovery options, like the majority of EVs. Julien Pillas, an electric drive special projects engineer who watches over my time in the company's incredibly expensive project car, advises me that I can increase the efficiency of my drive by switching to the "coast" mode occasionally. Normally, I prefer to drive in a mode that offers high regeneration when the driver lifts a foot off the accelerator pedal.

By directly using gravity to power the car when going down hills rather than converting that energy into electricity stored in the battery and then releasing that power back to the electric motor later, the car can take advantage of its slipperiness and take advantage of the fact that there are no conversion losses.

The Mercedes EQXX is completely instrumented, and after my drive, it generates a data graphic. They're impressed that the car used energy at a rate of 7.78 kilowatt-hours per 100 kilometers of driving during my 20 minutes behind the wheel, beating the 7.9 kWh benchmark established by their driver on the same route. It's true that I drove at a little slower average speed, but I also gave the EQXX a full-throttle 0-60 mph acceleration burst up a steep hill to get a quick idea of its perfectly adequate acceleration.

The single electric engine driving the EQXX's rear wheels has a modest 241 horsepower rating, in contrast to other extremely powerful and speedy cars like the 1,000-horsepower Hummer EV. However, that motor is only required to move a curb weight of 3,858 lbs, which is comparably low for an EV. The EQXX uses unique carbon fiber materials and so-called bionic castings with optimized shapes that resemble biological features, but a significant portion of the weight control of the vehicle is provided by the battery pack, which weighs just 1,091 lbs.

That is a remarkable feat for a 100 kilowatt-hour pack. Mercedes does this by employing a 920-volt battery pack with silicon carbide power electronics to create a battery that is physically 50% smaller and takes up 30% less space than the battery in the Mercedes EQS production model.

The pack was created by Brixworth, England-based Mercedes-AMG High Performance Powertrains (HPP). These experts' expertise of hybrid-electric drivetrains has helped the Mercedes Formula 1 team win the previous eight constructor's championships.

In the car's news release, head engineer of the electric drive system at Mercedes-Benz Eva Greiner says, "One of the greatest ways to enhance efficiency is to eliminate losses." Through system design, material selection, lubrication, and heat management, we worked on every component of the system to decrease energy consumption and losses. Additionally, the excellent simulation tools we have allowed us to swiftly determine what works and what doesn't.

The little steering effort is a result of the car's modest weight and its thin tires. When moving, the steering feels communicative and responsive as the electric power steering aid decreases. The assistance is overboosted at parking lot speeds, which gives the steering a detached feeling. I'd want to see an over-the-air upgrade to fix issue in a production vehicle. This is the closest thing I can find to a criticism of a ground-breaking prototype that was hurriedly produced to fulfill a deadline. Astounding.

When I press the accelerator pedal, power is applied smoothly and linearly, and the driver may choose whether or not to regenerate. With the finesse you would expect from a Mercedes production car, the vehicle offers no surprises in any regeneration mode.

The doors of the EQXX open and shut with power. Although the foam in the seats is rather stiff, the interior is roomy and meticulously designed. The EQXX never broke down and stranded its test drivers, which confirms my opinion of reliability, claims Pillas.

The researchers used an EQB SUV prototype equipped with the experimental parts to test the drivetrain components of the vehicle. During several frigid European winter testing, this automobile did experience breakdowns, and even when it was functioning, the drivers endured a lack of climate control, says Pillas.

The crew successfully fulfilled its task to drive the EQXX 1,008 kilometers (630 miles) through the Alps from Sindelfingen, Germany, to Cassis, France, after making these preparations. But the group wasn't finished. Mercedes engineers, certain that their vehicle had further potential, drove the EQXX a startling 1,202 kilometers (747 miles) on a single charge, from the company's headquarters in Stuttgart, Germany, to Silverstone, England. This excursion had a higher average speed of 52 mph and a peak speed of 87 mph on the autobahn because to cooler weather and smoother terrain.

Do you think the engineers who started out to build their concept car had any idea they'd end up with something so road-ready that it might feasibly serve as a teaser for a showroom-ready version? As with the EQXX's initial record-breaking journey, I'm going to venture a bet that Mercedes is still working on this vehicle.