With an endurance of 1000 kilometers, it is the supreme treasure of chaos in ancient mythology and the Deathly Hallows in Harry Potter.
It's hard to ask for, it's hard to behold.
Before that, it would only appear in battery manufacturers' PPT, in the vision of industry associations, and in posters of cars that could not be bought.
Recently, it appeared in the results of the Mercedes-Benz Vision EQXX road measurements.
What do you think of the test results?
This test of Mercedes-Benz is too different from the previous endurance test carried out by car companies in accordance with the standard.
Looking ahead, this test is quite chivalrous. In fact, basically every major technological change in the history of the automobile, from the advent of the car to the emergence of automobile sports, and even close to automatic driving, there are large-span free long-distance road tests, until the electric vehicle began to run after the endurance, the manufacturers began to learn to engage in closed running circle sports.
EQXX's choice of the real-world test this time means that it will face the test of very real road surfaces, terrain, climate and traffic flow, which is undoubtedly a decision of the "inventor of the automobile" to return to his ancestors.
Looking back, this test is also quite geeky. For most concept cars, even their power parameters are just fictitious "should" numbers, and Mercedes-Benz not only gave the Vision EQXX a serious power system, but also took out the actual road test and really achieved the expected results, which is extremely difficult.
The most frightening thing is that this car took only 18 months from finalization to research and development, and this measured result is actually reflecting the overall technical transformation and organizational mobilization ability of Mercedes-Benz.
Without further ado, look directly at the transcript.
It's a journey through 4 countries, starting from Sindelfingen, Germany, through the Swiss Alps and northern Italy, culminating in the small town of Cassis in France.
After a total of 1008km, the EQXX has 15% of the remaining SoC, and according to the results of the system calculations, the power at that time can still support the remaining 140km of travel.
Take out the calculator and simply press a few clicks, you will find that for the EQXX with a 100kWh battery pack, the full power consumption is only 8.7kWh/100km, which is not only lower than the 10kWh/100km that Mercedes-Benz first specified, but also consumes only one-half to one-third of the electricity required by competitors for the current luxury electric vehicles.
In the real world, this achievement is even more difficult to come by.
First of all, in this test, there was the most unfavorable road environment for electric vehicles, with an average speed of 87km/h over the whole journey, and even a long fast lane cruise at a speed of up to 140km/h on the highways in Germany, and approaching the speed limit elsewhere. In the Alps, vehicles have also undergone high-altitude climbs, which is also a major challenge for electric vehicles.
Secondly, the climatic conditions in this test are more complicated, the minimum temperature reaches 3 degrees Celsius, which is not the most favorable temperature range for the battery performance, and even at the beginning of the trip, it has been raining on the road, which will also increase the trouble of the vehicle's endurance test.
Finally, because Mercedes-Benz recorded the whole promotional video, we can see that the test environment is not overly optimized for extreme results, and in the carriage we can see that it is equipped with certain shooting and test equipment, and the co-pilot is also equipped with a second occupant, which can better imitate the real car environment.
Of course, many netizens talked about the problem of altitude difference and questioned whether this test is a "downhill" test, for this matter, I have two views to emphasize.
First, if you look at the altitude of each city, the altitude of the starting point Sindelfingen is 440 meters, the altitude of the end cassis is 9 meters, the drop of 430 meters, the average distance is above 1008km, plus there are a large number of undulating sections of the climb downhill in the middle, these altitude dimensions do have an impact on the endurance, but they are definitely not absolute values.
Second, from the test process just introduced, we can already see that More of Mercedes-Benz's goal is not to run an absolute record that is out of reach, otherwise there is far more "work" to do, and for the ability to reflect the working conditions of the whole vehicle in real use and the closed-loop technical ability of Mercedes-Benz, this result is enough.
Therefore, let us return more to the product technology itself, which may be more in line with common sense.
Here's how
Common sense tells us that if a technology suddenly tells you that it can suddenly raise the level of the industry by two or even three times, it must be doubtful.
Indeed, EQXX's results are so good that they cannot be accomplished by a single technological breakthrough.
First there are two lows: low air resistance and low rolling resistance.
In the EQXX test fleet, the front and rear "accompanying" models are EQS, although the latter is already the world's best performance holder in the wind resistance coefficient of the production car, but you can still quickly see the EQXX styling efforts, EQXX's drag coefficient is only 0.17, which means that it will hardly bring any trouble to the wind, plus it is actually a work with a narrower upper body building than the same size model, which means that the EQXX only has a 2.12 square meters of wind area. The rear diffuser optimizes airflow at 60km/h, allowing the vehicle's long tail to draw a scientific trajectory.
And rarely talked about is EQXX specifically with Bridgestone tires to bring ultra-low resistance, this set of tires only have a rolling resistance of 4.7, here we need to introduce this set of standards: the current EU tire label highest score A level data is 6.5, and EQS uses tire rolling resistance of 5.9, which can also save more power in long-distance running, from this photo taken from EQXX below, it can be seen that EQXX tires have a large diameter and narrow tread, which can reduce weight and reduce tire deformation , which can also optimize grades.
Then there is the role of lightweighting.
From long distance running to cycling, almost all endurance sports let us know that the lower the quality of the load, the better.
EQXX is also an expert in lightweighting, especially on hill climbs, where energy consumption often spikes with every gram of weight added to the body.
From the use of innovative materials in the body to the use of bionic structures of new processes, EQXX has simplified as much as possible the weight climb that can occur in various links, using carbon fiber composite materials for battery packs, and aluminum using a primary die-casting process for parts such as rear windows.
This makes the EQXX weigh only 1755kg, almost equivalent to the weight of a compact fuel car, and the battery is even more amazingly lightweight, it is only 200 x 126 x 11 cm, and the weight is only 495 kg, which means that its volume is reduced by 50% and the weight is reduced by 30%.
Then there are two additional "energy systems".
In the process of downhill the vehicle, EQXX can use almost all altitude changes and deceleration links to achieve kinetic energy recovery, which makes the whole vehicle almost no need to use any mechanical brakes, and even this function will have a secondary dividend, EQXX because the brake pressure is not large, so it is replaced by a lighter aluminum brake disc.
The 117 solar panels on the roof can power the 12V low-voltage battery, although it is not directly supported by the whole vehicle, but it can reduce the load of the high-voltage main battery, and the solar panel is equivalent to supporting an additional 25km endurance throughout the trip.
But the core is the hardware and software related to the power of the whole vehicle.
In terms of hardware, EQXX's electric drive unit consisting of motors, reducers and power electronics was developed by F1 experts and is compact, low in weight and efficient, with 95% of the energy from the battery ultimately acting on the wheels.
With an energy density of 400 Wh/l and a high operating voltage of more than 900 V, Mercedes-Benz engineers reduced the total losses of the drivetrain (motors, inverters and transmissions) by 44 percent, while for every 1 percent increase in efficiency, the endurance increased by 2 percent.
While high efficiency means that not much energy is converted into useless heat, EQXX is able to use a passive air-cooled system for heat dissipation, which also reduces a lot of energy consumption, and only in the hot season or extreme cold, the heat pump air conditioner will turn on and open additional air passages.
But I also have some doubts that this system will not be able to cope with all the road conditions that electric vehicles may encounter in future production vehicles.
Finally, it can be proved that the car is fully turned on, and Mercedes-Benz said that the efficiency assistant at the software level also played a big role in the whole test, which can provide the driver with the best driving style tips like the co-pilot. Efficiency assistants provide information about energy flow, battery status, terrain, and even wind direction and solar intensity, and ultimately submit the information to the driver through various interactive means.
What is the meaning?
When tourists find Penglai Wonderland, when fishermen mistakenly enter the depths of peach blossoms, it means...
There are big things to go.
Similarly, the success of EQXX's test also means that the industry's thinking has arrived.
The actual endurance test of 1000km is undoubtedly a step of super practical significance for every electric vehicle user, and it has always been a key link that affects everyone's experience of electric vehicles, which looks like a battery life number, but the overall consumption including time is sacrificed because of the replenishment.
And the ultra-long single endurance, the value is not in the place where you can go farther, because through the convenient power network almost any electric car can reach any place with urban civilization.
Rather: the complement gives you less of a distraction.
This means you can devote more energy to the joy of driving, the company of your family, and the sense of displacement.
More deeply, this necessarily means that human beings are more friendly to the environment, and we need less electrical energy to achieve the same purpose, which is also the value of new energy vehicles for the earth.
To achieve this transformation, we have just listed a large number of cutting-edge skills and research and development efforts, and we can deeply see that this is not easy.
This means innovation in software and hardware, it means organizational coordination, it means the integration of a large number of businesses that seem to be unrelated to electric vehicles, and the preparation of the ongoing production system, including production skills and factory construction, for large-scale cost reduction and mass production.
It is not easy to establish this achievement, which means that it is difficult to climb over this barrier.
When Mercedes-Benz has taken the lead in finding a clear power in the direction of electrification, not to mention imitation, just the adjustment and catch-up of the direction, it has required other companies to make great efforts.
This will be an important product label and technical advantage for the Mercedes-Benz EQ series in the coming years.
Next time, let's see you after 1000km.
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