The author | Nie Yiyao
The source | Auto Grand view
What kind of situation will make a European century-old giant rivet enough to compete with Tesla' raw melon egg? The answer is: when the afterlife is terrible.
Luxury car tycoon Mercedes-Benz, recently in the pure electricity action frequently, following the listing of the million-dollar flagship pure electric luxury car new EQS on the 17th of last month, on January 4, Mercedes-Benz released another ultra-powerful pure electric concept car VISION EQXX, the target is tesla Model 3 (or the next Tesla new car).
Why Model 3?
Because this VISION EQXX from mercedes-Benz medium-sized and compact electric platform MMA, the body length, wheelbase, weight and other indicators are quite close to the Tesla Model 3 rear-drive version. The Mercedes-Benz VISION EQXX is about 4630mm long, with a wheelbase of 2800mm and a weight of 1750Kg; the Tesla Model 3 is 4694mm long, with a wheelbase of 2875mm and a weight of 1761Kg. The Tesla Model 3, the best-selling electric model in the European market, delivered 93,549 units in 11 European countries in 2021.
Why is it that this Mercedes-Benz VISION EQXX is super powerful, and it is not too much to say that Mercedes-Benz has used eighteen palms of the dragon?
Because from the official introduction of Mercedes-Benz, every pore of VISION EQXX reveals the taste of "global automotive technology pioneer and luxury leader".
For example, the concept car has a low wind resistance coefficient of only 0.17Cd and consumes less than 10kWh per 100 kilometers, making it "the most energy-efficient model ever" in history. Therefore, the cruising range is more than 1,000 kilometers, and it can be "driven from Beijing to Nanjing in one breath".
For example, Mercedes-Benz's pride in "always being imitated, never surpassed" luxury is particularly strongly reflected in this concept car. The special-shaped screen on the Mercedes-Benz EQS, which is connected by three large screens, has made the peers who tout their own large screens ashamed. On this VISION EQXX, Mercedes-Benz directly implanted a curved giant screen with a diagonal size of up to 47.5 inches and 8K resolution (7680x660 pixels). Yes, it is a whole screen, the real Dalian screen, not a triple screen, two screens. If nothing else, it's luxury.
The VISION EQXX concept car, it is said that its research and development process uses a lot of digital tools such as virtual reality and augmented reality, from the birth of the idea to the landing of the whole vehicle, it takes only 18 months.
The reason behind the century-old luxury Mercedes-Benz began to accelerate on pure circuits is that under the trend of electrification and intelligence, the advantages of traditional car brands cannot be used in the field of electric vehicles. There are new rules and new standards in the new field, the old signboard has little influence in the new field, even if you are a Mercedes-Benz, you must work hard in the new field to avoid being outdated.
What is this VISION EQXX concept car that shows Mercedes-Benz's sword technology and luxury in the field of electric vehicles? Why not look further.
Mercedes-Benz insists on technology and luxury: it is still the body of the body
As mentioned earlier, the VISION EQXX has a wind resistance coefficient of only 0.17Cd and consumes less than 10kWh per 100 kilometers, making it "the most energy-efficient model ever". How did Mercedes do it?
First, take the shape of the vehicle and cut it. Students who love supercars know that whether it is Bugatti or McLaren and other supercars, the body shape is like a water droplet. This is because the object with the lowest wind resistance coefficient in nature is a water droplet, which is only 0.04Cd. Therefore, supercars imitate the shape of water droplets and maximize the design of streamlined bodies.
Mercedes-Benz VISION EQXX in order to pursue a very low wind resistance, but also the water droplet shape to the extreme, small and flat front of the car, with the front cover of the two cooling system exhaust holes, personally feel, not much like catfish, but the more you look more like a small devil fish. Can't use the word good to describe, can only say that it is quite special. The entire body appearance is very smooth, there is almost no edge, the roof line slides like a water droplet to the rear of the car, coupled with a fully enclosed low wind resistance wheels, all to reduce the wind resistance.
Is reducing the wind resistance coefficient important for electric vehicles? It is still very important, in theory, for every 0.01Cd reduction in the wind resistance coefficient, the endurance will increase by 5-8km. Therefore, the low wind resistance pursued by Mercedes-Benz VISION EQXX is still to achieve its 1000 km endurance.
However, the wind resistance is too low, and there are also disadvantages, that is, insufficient downforce, which will weaken the stability of the vehicle at high speed. How to solve it? Mercedes-Benz designers designed a strange and eye-catching tail for the VISION EQXX, with an elongated duckling buttocks in the upper part and a retractable diverter in the lower half. When the speed reaches 60-70km/h or more, the diverter will automatically extend to help the vehicle remain stable. Although the elongated and enlarged duckling buttocks look more like the long butt of the classic car of the last century, with the outstretched diverter, it may make the vehicles on the road look sideways.
Also in order to ensure a cruising range of 1,000 kilometers, Mercedes-Benz made the car as lightweight as possible. Vision EQXX uses "one-piece die casting" technology, where the frame is formed from a single, complete piece of casting. Because of the lack of solder joint integral molding, the rigidity of the rear of the body can be greatly improved, saving the use of materials. The rear of the vehicle is applied to the bionic engineering structural components, according to the actual structural function requirements, the material is used where the force is needed, and the place where the force is not needed is hollowed out.
The vision EQXX's battery packs are also designed for weight reduction. The concept car has a battery pack capacity of 100kWh, which is 50% smaller in size and 30% lighter than the new EQS battery pack. In order to minimize the module, Mercedes-Benz directly "glued" the battery cell to the battery back of the VISION EQXX, and finally achieved an energy density of 400Wh/L.
Still for 1,000 km of endurance, Mercedes-Benz added 117 roof solar panels to the VISION EQXX concept car to power air conditioning fans, lights, central control entertainment systems and other low-voltage appliances such as on-board 12V appliances. According to mercedes-Benz official data, these solar cells can increase the cruising range of 25 kilometers when the sun is full. Of course, everything comes at a cost, and the price of rooftop solar panels is that you don't want skylights or skyscreens anymore.
The Mercedes-Benz luxury embodied in this VISION EQXX concept car lies in the unique and truly integrated Dalian screen mentioned earlier on the one hand; on the other hand, it is the "no environmental protection and no luxury" and "no sustainable luxury" led by luxury brands in recent years.
The big screen is not to say, 47.5 inches ultra-thin seamless integrated, what you see is what you get, no one can surpass at present. Talking about the materials used in the interior, a large number of environmentally friendly materials are used, which is the new realm of luxury highlighted by luxury brands.
For example, the door handle of VISION EQXX is made of biodegradable pure plant silk; what is even more touching is that this door handle has been reduced to a small pull strap, which is really creative. The interior of the doors is lined with three-dimensional dot matrix decorations, these small sequins that change color with different viewing angles, from recycled PET plastic bottles. The soft-touch seat leather is made from cactus extracts and mycelium. The carpet in the car is woven with 100% bamboo fiber.
In any case, this eco-friendly luxury with sustainable concepts and exquisite craftsmanship is still worthy of our praise to the Germans. However, whether it is technology or luxury, Mercedes-Benz presents more or the power and skills accumulated in the era of fuel vehicles, in terms of electric vehicles, Mercedes-Benz wants to maintain the status of the field of fuel vehicles, there is still a lot of homework to learn.
Mercedes-Benz sales are currently declining, and the electrification process needs to be accelerated
A few days ago, Mercedes-Benz announced sales in the fourth quarter of 2021 and sales for the whole year. According to the data, in the fourth quarter of 2021, Mercedes-Benz's global retail sales volume was 464130 units, down 24.6% year-on-year. For the whole year of 2021, Mercedes-Benz passenger car sales 2093476 units, down 5.0% year-on-year.
In terms of regions, in the Chinese market, Mercedes-Benz is still a popular luxury brand, Mercedes-Benz S-Class, G-Class, AMG, Maybach, domestic sales remain high. However, in 2021, Mercedes-Benz's sales in the domestic passenger car market still fell slightly by 2.0% to 758863 units.
In contrast, the European market, where Mercedes-Benz's hometown is located, is the region where Mercedes-Benz's sales have fallen the most in 2021, down 11.2% to 696136 units.
Mercedes-Benz sales in the North American market have risen, with Mercedes-Benz selling 318456 units in North America in 2021, up 0.3% year-on-year.
Mercedes-Benz attributed the main reason for the decline in overall sales in 2021 to the "global semiconductor shortage". This is one of the reasons that Mercedes-Benz is willing to admit, and perhaps another major factor that it is unwilling to admit is that the more rapid electrification process in the Chinese and European markets in 2021, and the rapidly increasing penetration rate of new energy vehicles, are eating up the market share of traditional fuel vehicles, including Mercedes-Benz.
According to eu-evs' 2021 electric vehicle sales data from 11 European countries, in 2021, Norway, Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Ireland, Spain, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, Denmark, Finland and 11 European countries sold a total of 853,075 electric vehicles, an increase of 30.4% year-on-year.
Among them, Volkswagen 124389, Tesla 115731, and Renault 67552 vehicles, ranking first, second and third in sales respectively.
Mercedes-Benz ranked tenth with 28,220 vehicles. Although Mercedes-Benz officially said that its 2021 EQ series of pure electric vehicle sales rose by 154.8% year-on-year to 48936 units, but in any case, compared with Volkswagen and Tesla, there is still a big gap.
The Chinese market will usher in a big explosion in new energy vehicle sales in 2021. According to the data of the Federation of Passenger Vehicles, in 2021, the wholesale volume of new energy passenger vehicles in China reached 3.312 million units, an increase of 181.0% year-on-year; the retail sales volume reached 2.989 million units, an increase of 169.1% year-on-year.
The wholesale penetration rate of new energy passenger car manufacturers increased from 6.18% in 2020 to 15.7% in 2021; the retail penetration rate rose from 5.8% in 2020 to 14.8% in 2021. Moreover, in the two months of November and December at the end of 2021, the sales volume of domestic new energy passenger cars rose sharply, whether wholesale or retail, the penetration rate has exceeded 20%, accelerating the market share of fuel vehicles.
These data all reflect that the dividend period of new energy vehicles, especially pure electric vehicles, in the Chinese market has come to the fore. The so-called advanced field to stand firmly eat meat, after entering the field to bite the bone, the reaction is slower can only drink soup, and then slow even the soup can not be enough.
Such a big car consumption country, such a tempting electric vehicle dividend, Mercedes-Benz does not want to? Not only Mercedes-Benz wants to, all traditional car companies are hungry, and they almost realized that their electrification pace is too slow in 2021.
As a result, Toyota turned from hesitation and wanted to launch 30 electric vehicles in one breath; GM shouted that it would increase the investment of 20 billion US dollars to 35 billion US dollars for electric vehicle research and development; Mercedes-Benz also said that in 2022, it will launch 8 pure electric and plug-in hybrid models in the Chinese market, and will invest more than 40 billion euros by the end of 2030, competing with Tesla in the field of electric vehicles.
According to a more segmented data, in December 2021, the new energy penetration rate of the domestic luxury car market has reached 32.7%. It shows that the luxury car segment that continues to strengthen is no longer a thriving fuel vehicle, and new energy vehicles are quickly becoming the new favorite of luxury car users.
If new energy vehicles are only attacking the city outside the luxury car market, they will have little impact on luxury brands such as Mercedes-Benz. But when new energy vehicles are spreading significantly to the field of luxury cars, it is impossible for Mercedes-Benz to be in a hurry.
Therefore, for the VISION EQXX, which may not be mass-produced in 2025, but made its world premiere in January 2022, Mercedes-Benz's eagerness and strength are understandable. Perhaps the electrification process of Mercedes-Benz can be more sincere in attitude and more open in thinking.