We’ve ridden in the 1,000km+ Merc Vision EQXX and here’s all you need to know

You’ll probably know by now if you’re reading this, but Mercedes recently drove this exact Vision EQXX concept from Sindelfingen near Stuttgart all the way to Cassis on the Côte d'Azur. And while that may not seem too impressive at first glance, it is of course an EV and it managed the full 1,008km (626 mile) trip on a single charge. Heck, it even had 15 per cent of its battery left when it arrived at its destination, meaning it could have easily done another 87 miles.

Now that is impressive. You can read the full story on that mission by clicking these blue words. But hang on, because after it had completed the efficiency marathon, Mercedes invited TG out to the South of France to experience the one-off EQXX first-hand (well technically second-hand given that we were limited to the passenger seat for now). Still, here’s what we learned…

Just look at it. It’s not exactly a surprise that the EQXX has some super-nerdy aero going on. The drag coefficient stands at 0.17, which is hugely impressive for something road-legal that has four doors, four seats and no covered wheel arches.

Key features are the super smooth front end and the teardrop shape with the highest point of the car being reasonably far forward. The long tail and the chopped rear end helps to smooth out airflow passing over the car and there’s an active rear diffuser that elongates at speeds above 37mph. The narrow 20-inch wheels are made of magnesium and have a completely flat surface, while the tiny vents in front create what Merc’s aero chief Dr Teddy Woll describes as a “virtual front wheel cover”. The rear track is then 50mm narrower than the front, meaning the air passes around the back wheels without being disturbed. The wing mirrors are real – Merc thought about cameras but it would have needed to add two more screens to display the feed. Instead, these mirrors are around 50 per cent more slippery than the ones you’d find on a C-Class. 

The team tasked with the 1,000km EV project had some rather clever folk to call on for support. For the powertrain, Merc’s Formula 1 wizards in Brixworth helped to develop a battery with almost 100kWh of usable capacity that weighs 30 per cent less than a similarly powerful EQS unit. It’s also half as small, and because both it and the permanent-magnet electric motor are super-efficient (an average of 95 per cent) they only need to be air-cooled even in warmer climes.

Merc limited the EQXX’s top speed to 140kph (87mph) for safety reasons, but it did actually manage to hit that figure on derestricted sections of Autobahn on the record run. It feels sprightly from the passenger seat too – there’s that instant EV torque and 241bhp is sent to the rear wheels alone. 
 

Just look at the size of that screen. Mercedes needs a new name for this giant 47.5-inch, 8k unit considering it already went rather big with the fragmented ‘Hyperscreen’. It’s gloriously detailed though and runs a video gaming engine with super clever chips. It can even display a real-time animation of the wind direction/speed over the car, and it’ll show you where in the sky the sun is and how best to get energy into the roof-mounted solar panels. 

To save weight, the only speakers in the car are mounted in the seat, with two small units in each headrest and a shaker down by your lower back. Sound quality is exceptional and Mercedes is beginning to use a computer generated voice that can actually convey different feelings. It’s as creepy as it sounds. 

There’s a huge amount of sustainable materials inside too. The bright blue shag carpets are incredible – a proper throwback to the 60s and 70s – but here they’re made from 100 per cent bamboo. Then there’s the seats – they’re trimmed in leather made from cacti (meaning no water, pesticides or herbicides are used in the production) and although they’re a little firm you could easily see them making production. 

We did find ourselves feeling a little claustrophobic at times however. There’s no shortage of space inside the EQXX, but the lack of rear window would take some getting used to. 

This is a very light car. It only weighs 1,755kg all-in and deploys some hugely futuristic tech to reach that target – Mercedes is particularly proud of its bionic cast aluminium structures that save weight by leaving gaps where no forces pass through certain parts. It also uses some not-so-cutting-edge strategies like polycarbonate windows, but despite the lack of glass it really is quiet from the inside.

That fancy electric motor barely makes a sound, either. Merc says it tested the powertrain extensively in an EQB mule during development and it feels very well sorted for what is essentially a concept car. There’s even an extra level of regen (called D--) that the engineers developed over Merc’s road-going EVs for maximum energy recuperation. 

Would be a bit of a let-down if it wasn’t, wouldn’t it? On our 45 minute ride in the EQXX we averaged 7.1 miles per kWh – exactly the same as was achieved on the record run and almost double what we see in most of today’s EVs.

Oh, and the solar panels can add around 25km to every 1,000km journey. Not to be sniffed at that, plus they don’t add too much extra weight up top because they’re hidden under a glass fibre roof. Merc also claims that the active diffuser will be adapted for future production cars because tests show it can add between three and five per cent more range. 

You might expect something with specially-developed Bridgestone eco tyres and stiff suspension to be a little crashy, but the EQXX is surprisingly well-sorted. There’s a certain sportiness to the ride as a wallowy setup wouldn’t be good for rolling resistance, but it can cope with proper city streets and speed bumps as any production car would. There’s also an almost disconcerting lack of wind noise, but that was probably to be expected…

In the grand scheme of things we haven’t been driving EVs for all that long, but even so we’ve already become accustomed to their extra heft. The EQXX feels different though, it’s noticeably lighter and more agile than most of its brethren, and the steering is way more direct as a result. 

The lack of mass also helps to reduce the rolling resistance, and the way the EQXX can coast on a motorway makes it feel as though the driver is still accelerating. Let’s hope this philosophy is something Mercedes takes to heart for its future EVs – the 2.5 tonne EQC suddenly looks very puddingy indeed.  

The EQXX is a development car and a technical exercise for Mercedes, so it’s unlikely that it’ll make production in this form, but Markus Schäfer did let slip to TG that something that resembles it might be along soon. 

“I would say stay tuned,” said Merc’s Chief Technology Officer. “In the near future you will see something which is – from a design standpoint – very very close to this vehicle.”