We were somewhat perplexed as to why Mercedes decided to leave the official press release (eighteen pages!). Maximum speed and acceleration specifications of your Vision EQXX, but now we know. They really are not what you might expect.
During an exclusive press conference at CES XNUMXnd, which covered Vision EQXX's battery, nutrition source, and UI / UX, LaComparacion asked what those specs were.
Jasmin Eichler, director of Future Technologies at Daimler AG, reacted swiftly, revealing an acceleration time of 0-hundred km / h (0-sixty-two mph) of seven seconds and a surprisingly slow top speed of one hundred forty km / h ( plus or minus eighty-seven mph).
To give you some comparisons, a Vauxhall Corsa EV and a Chevy Bolt EV can reach faster top speeds. Meanwhile, Ford's cheapest vehicle in the US, the Ecosport XNUMX, can hit one hundred and nineteen mph.
However, the Vision EQXX's top speed and acceleration don't really matter.
Missing the point
The Vision EQXX isn't about speed, it's about efficiency, as Eichler explains; "As a general goal, we try to get to a range number that is quite difficult to achieve, and we choose this (thousand km) because it just works."
Mercedes wanted to challenge itself when it came to battery efficiency and density, with the goal of making a vehicle exaggeratedly close to production, while still delivering staggering range statistics.
Addition of Adam Allsopp, X1 powertrain manager at Daimler AG; "We're looking for the best path for battery efficiency and density."
And what Mercedes engineers have been able to achieve in terms of battery advancements is commendable.
They took the battery from the Mercedes EQS, which offers an already astounding range of four hundred and fifty-three miles WLTP (seven hundred and twenty-nine km), and reduced its size by XNUMX% and its weight by XNUMX%.
Add that to the Vision EQXX, which has the lowest drag factor of any road vehicle at just 0.17, and you end up with a super elusive EV with incredible range.
And let's not forget that eighty-seven mph (one hundred and forty km / h) is more than the maximum speed limits on many roads around the world, so it is not as if you are left behind on a day-to-day basis.
Plus, you won't be able to buy the EQXX - it's just an ideal vehicle, or as Mercedes likes to say, a "road legal research prototype" that really comes close to a production vehicle.
So close indeed that this new battery technology, and many other features of the Vision EQXX, will be used in future Mercedes-series electric cars.
What is likely to happen is that the range will be subtly reduced in favor of more attractive top speed and acceleration specs, but continued advances in battery chemistry and engineering may render the reduction as great as hoped.
And that would indeed be a good thing, as given the high label cost of future Mercedes electric cars with significant range, the automaker would do well to work on speed figures to help justify the ultimate cost to users.