At the end of 2021, as the inventor of the car, Mercedes-Benz released a mysterious model called VISION EQXX, which belongs to the Mercedes-Benz EQ electric vehicle family but has a "XX" name that represents the future. Seeing the suffix of XX, the first thing that reminds me of it is Ferrari Ferrari's XX Programme program.
In simple terms, the Ferrari model with XX in its name is a "monster" born for the track. For example, the FXX based on the Ferrari Enzo, the 599XX based on the 599 GTB, and the FXX K based on LaFerrari are all the ultimate track versions of the Ferrari civilian flagship of their respective eras. These special series based on civilian models are no longer something that can be bought with money alone.
Obviously, Mercedes-Benz's XX and Ferrari's XX are unrelated, but in Mercedes-Benz's own eyes, this VISION EQXX shows the future travel pictured by Mercedes-Benz, a century-old car brand. In order to prove that VISION EQXX is not a vision that exists only in PPT, Mercedes-Benz engineers set off from the Stuttgart Sindelfingen R&D center, through Switzerland and Italy, and finally to the port city of Cassis in the south of France, to justify themselves with a "real test" of more than 1,000km.
How to achieve actual measurement of 1000km+?
In the face of this real-world test, VISION EQXX handed over an eye-catching report card. In an environment with an outdoor temperature of 3°C to 18°C, the VISION EQXX stopped testing after spending 11 hours and 32 minutes and driving a total of 1008km. When you arrive at your destination, the remaining power of the VISION EQXX is about 15%, and according to the results calculated by the system, the power at that time can continue to travel for 140km.
This is not the result of simulated laboratory conditions, the vision EQXX has reached a very high average speed of 87.4 km/h over the entire course, and on the highways in Germany, it has a long cruising speed of 140 km/h. Even in the process of crossing the Alps, vision EQXX also travels through high-altitude climbing roads, which are not friendly to the endurance of electric vehicles.
The VISION EQXX, which is "equipped with only" a 100kWh battery pack, how did it achieve a measured ultra-1000km?
Assuming that the final cruising range of vision EQXX is 1148km, the power consumption of the three-electric system provided by mercedes-benz AMG high-performance powertrain (HPP) team is only 8.7kWh/100km, which is even lower than Mercedes-Benz's own "official energy consumption". Compared with the current average energy consumption of 20+kWh/100km for electric vehicles, VISION EQXX can save nearly two-thirds of the power consumption, which is definitely a new history.
For cars, whether it is a fuel vehicle or an electric vehicle, the most direct reason for the linkage with fuel consumption/energy consumption is the wind resistance coefficient. From the vision EQXX's body, we can see at a glance that it has a very good aerodynamic shape. With a crash area of only 2.12m, coupled with the airflow optimization of the upper tail shape, the wind resistance coefficient of vision EQXX is finally fixed at 0.17, which is already the lowest in the world.
On the only 4 tires that came into contact with the ground, VISION EQXX chose the "Turanza Eco" tires created in collaboration with Bridgestone. Combining lightweight and environmentally friendly ENLITEN technology to achieve an ultra-low rolling resistance of 4.7 (typically above 10 in family cars), coupled with an aerodynamic housing attached to a 20-inch lightweight forged magnesium alloy wheel, further optimises energy efficiency.
Then there is the optimization of the body weight, after all, low loads will definitely help with energy consumption. In the most critical part of the power battery, vision EQXX has an energy density of 202Wh/kg from the Pack level. According to the length, width and height, the size is only 200 * 126 * 11cm, the volume is 50% less than the current mass production of the flagship EQS battery pack, the weight is also reduced by 30%, 495kg, the weight of the vehicle is only 1775kg.
To increase the efficiency of batteries to wheels to 95%, Mercedes-Benz has also adopted SiC technology, which seems to have become the standard configuration of the next generation of luxury cars, and it is also the key to reducing drive energy consumption. After the increase to 800V, the power consumption at the motor level can also be reduced, including the loss of thermal management layer.
Of course, Mercedes-Benz is also an expert in car lightweighting. In addition to the battery pack, vision EQXX uses innovative materials from the body to the bionic structure of the new process, including the use of many carbon fiber materials, the use of aluminum using a primary die casting process in the rear window and other parts. Mercedes-Benz even replaced the VISION EQXX with a lighter aluminum brake disc, which is indeed "not crazy, not alive".
By the way, the VISION EQXX uses 117 solar panels with dedicated lithium batteries on the roof, which were jointly developed with ISE, europe's largest solar energy laboratory, to provide the vehicle with an additional 25km of endurance.
Mercedes-Benz also said that the goal of vision EQXX is not to run an unattainable endurance record, its significance is to reflect the vehicle's working conditions in real use and Mercedes-Benz's closed-loop technical capabilities.
What does it mean for the electric vehicle industry?
To be honest, Mercedes-Benz's current flagship model EQS, which is based on the EVA platform, does not open up a substantial gap with other brand models. The emergence of VISION EQXX represents the development direction of Mercedes-Benz's next-generation MMA modular architecture, which is also a stage examination of Mercedes-Benz's "closed-loop research and development" link.
At present, vision EQXX is still only a concept car, but its large number of cutting-edge technology and research and development results are definitely more than the previously mentioned ones, and its significance is far more than the concept car itself.
For example, the current nominal endurance of 1000km products, although there are many new technologies used in the battery pack, but the battery pack capacity is basically around 150kWh (WEILAI ET7 is 150kWh, AION LX PLUS 144.4kWh), but the battery is superimposed.
Mercedes-Benz engineers, in the absence of a substantial breakthrough in battery technology, successfully reduced the losses of the VISION EQXX concept car transmission system (electric motor, inverter and transmission) by 44%. For every 1% increase in efficiency, battery life increases by 2%.
The electric drive unit, which consists of an electric motor, reducer and power electronics, was also developed by F1 experts, resulting in compact structure, low weight and high efficiency. Thanks to the blessing of SiC silicon carbide technology, so that 95% of the energy from the battery can finally be applied to the wheels, this technology that everyone is using seems to have become the standard configuration of the next generation of luxury cars, and it is also the key to reducing drive energy consumption.
Reduced energy consumption and higher efficiency mean that the vehicle will not have too much energy converted into useless heat energy. In the era of electric vehicles, whether it is cooling or heating, it has become a metaphysics. Thermal management engineers of the whole vehicle need to coordinate different modes from the whole vehicle to achieve the needs of the whole vehicle system with minimal energy. Vision EQXX raises the working voltage to more than 900V at the same time, but also can use the passive air cooling system for heat dissipation, such an efficient thermal management method for the development of electric vehicles is of great practical significance.
In the winter when electric vehicles are most afraid, VISION EQXX also provides new ideas for other manufacturers. Relying on multi-source heat pumps, the VISION EQXX draws heat not only from the surrounding environment, but also from the cooling circuit of the drive system. In order to maximize the recovery of each part of heat, the heat pump also uses the "evaporative enthalpy" technology in the dehumidification state to collect the latent heat released when the water vapor in the air is liquefied, and to minimize the energy consumption of the air conditioning system.
In fact, VISION EQXX also has many innovative technologies that can be realized, and the "gold content" is extremely high. With the VISION EQXX model, Mercedes-Benz has shown the world a lot of future technologies and application directions. It can be said that Mercedes-Benz has taken the lead in the "bottleneck period" of electrification and found the goal and direction of future development.
Master observation
In China, the production car endurance of 1000km is actually not a gimmick, as long as enough batteries can get the desired "theoretical" mileage. But the emergence of VISION EQXX is not only extremely revolutionary and pragmatic, but also opens up a new route for the development of electric vehicles in the future. Next, the electric vehicle industry after the big wave of sand and sand may usher in a real sense of the competitive landscape.