Mercedes-Benz’s new EV concept just drove 1008km through four countries off a single charge of its battery.
The Vision EQXX travelled more than twice the distance the typical electric car sold today can cover between fill-ups (generally 321-482km).
READ MORE: Driverless car takes off after baffled cops try to pull it over
For example, Tesla’s longest-range model, the $100,000 Model S sedan, is rated by the Environmental Protection Agency for up to 651km of range.
The $170,000 Lucid Air, which is at the top end of the EV field in terms of range, has an EPA rating of 836km.
You can start to see now why Mercedes might just have a game-changer on their hands.
Where did the Mercedes EV go on its travels?
The Vision EQXX began its road trip in Germany before passing through the Swiss Alps and Northern Italy on its way to the southern coast of France.
That sounds like a rather pleasant journey to us.
Mercedes decided to push the boat out further with their test. They did this by ensuring the 12-hour trip didn’t happen in uniform conditions.
The journey across Europe included 140km/h stints on the Autobahn, mountain passes, rain, and temperatures ranging from a nearly-freezing 2 degrees celsius up to 17 degrees.
At the journey’s end, the Vision EQXX still had 140km of range left – amounting to a theoretical range of 1,126km.
Seems strange to not just drive that extra 140km though, right?
READ MORE: World’s biggest Hummer is as long as a humpback whale
What else is there to know about the Mercedes Vision EQXX?
With the Vision EQXX, Mercedes-Benz wanted to create an extremely lightweight vehicle that could slip through the air with minimal drag and yield maximum range.
During its test run, the concept car consumed one kilowatt-hour (kWh) for every 11km travelled. EVs today generally get 3-6km per kWh.
All of this was achieved with a 100-kWh battery pack. That’s roughly the same capacity as that of Mercedes’s EQS sedan, which is rated at 563km of range.
It shows that you don’t need a giant battery to achieve a super-long driving range.
The Mercedes EV concept car was aided by a solar roof.
Mercedes says this can add 25km miles of range on a journey of 1,000km.
At the end of the day though, the Vision EQXX is just a concept car. So while it was an impressive test by the German outfit, don’t necessarily expect a 1,000km Mercedes to hit the market anytime soon.
But Mercedes has said that some of the breakthroughs it achieved here will be incorporated into production models.
Those in turn could help improve development and then who knows what we might actually see Mercedes mass-produce next…
