Say Auf Wiedersehen to range anxiety and hello to the Mercedes-Benz Vision EQXX, a concept EV that can travel 1,000 km on a single charge. Finally unveiled today to coincide with CES 2022 after a teaser campaign stretching back over 15 months, the EQXX is only a concept for now, but even if the car Mercedes is calling its most efficient ever doesn’t make it to the showroom in its current form, you can bet that most of the technology onboard will.

Most importantly, that technology doesn’t simply include strapping a humungous battery pack to the floor of the EQXX. As Mercedes notes, anyone can make an EV go a long way between charges by installing more battery cells. But that’s also a counterproductive move because a bigger battery means a heavier car, and moving that weight puts an extra drain on the battery, while also affecting braking and handling.

 

So the EQXX achieves its 621-mile range (168-miles more than the EQS 450+) and incredibly low sub-10 kWh per 100 km efficiency with smarter thinking and smarter technology focused on reducing weight and improving aerodynamics. First, there’s the 900-volt battery pack. Developed with High Performance Powertrains (HPP) and Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix, the brains behind Damiler’s F1 cars, the battery pack is rated at the same 100 kWh as the one in the EQS 450+ road car, but is 50 percent smaller and 30 percent lighter at 495 kg.

That helps keep the overall vehicle weight down to an impressively low 1750 kg, as do other tricks like magnesium wheels, aluminium alloy brake discs, carbon and glass-reinforced plastic doors, and the slim roof panel whose 117 solar cells contribute 25 km to the electric driving range. Other range boosting tricks include low-rolling-resistance tires, a Cd factor of just 0.17 aided by an adjustable rear diffuser, cooling-on-demand for the battery, and a drive system that’s claimed to send 95 percent of the battery’s available power to the wheels. Mercedes is light on some of the drivetrain specifics but it appears that the EQXX is powered by a single 201 hp motor driving the rear wheels. It’s no AMG then, but this machine is all about efficiency, not speed.

 

But despite its likely pedestrian acceleration Mercedes sees the EQXX as a halo car for the brand, and has loaded it with luxury kit to suit that role. So there’s a massive 47.5-inch 8k touchscreen display ahead of the driver and passenger that isn’t quite as large as the 56-inch Hyperscreen dash currently available in the production EQS, but is made from one single panel rather than three, and promises far more features.

And, mindful that an increasing number of buyers are as concerned about animal welfare as they are about greenhouse gases, the EQXX goes big on sustainable materials, including seats made from Dessertex, an upholstery derived from cacti (hopefully minus the spikes), with detailing provided by mycelium, a vegan leather made from mushrooms. Even more innovative (and likely to turn the stomach of even the most ardent eco warrior is the use of a sustainable plastic made from landfill waste that includes garden waste and baby nappies to build the non structural elements of the rear floor.