Mercedes-Benz recently made exciting announcements about future changes at its investor conference, including a new “G” sub-brand of off-roaders and plans to sell many more Maybachs. But Mercedes also unveiled plans to become a leader on the EV tech front — and teased a new concept car, the Vision EQXX. The concept — built with help from Mercedes's F1 engineers — aims to be the world’s longest-range, most-efficient electric vehicle.
It’s been widely reported by other outlets that Daimler hinted that the EQXX would travel from Beijing to Shanghai on a single charge, which quick Google Maps search reveals that to be a drive of more than 750 miles. Such a range would exceed anything on the market. Tesla breaking the 400-mile barrier with the Model S in June was considered a feat. Lucid claims the Air will have a range of up to 517 miles, and Tesla announced the upcoming Model S Plaid would have a 520-mile range.
Of course, “concept” can mean many things in the automotive world. The EQXX sounds far more toward the “one-off vision of the future” end of the spectrum than the “here’s the production car that’s coming in two years” end. However, some of that tech will doubtless trickle down to the development of Mercedes’ new electric vehiclesm including the soon-to-be-released EQS.
Range anxiety is perhaps the major mental hurdle for consumers crossing over to EVs, even if EVs will be more than sufficient for everyday driving. In practical terms, however, improving and expanding charging infrastructure may be more critical to resolving range anxiety than impressively long range. Adding 155 miles of range to the new EQS 15 minutes would be impressive...but still less convenient than filling an S-Class up with gas.
