EV range short? Mercedes breaks that notion with Vision EQXX, BEATS own record

Will EVs be able to match the range of ICE cars? Mercedes seems to be hell bent on proving that it is possible to go long on an EV. After raising eyebrows with its Vision EQXX concept car traveling over 1000Km back in April, Mercedes used the same car once again to break its one record. The Vision EQXX sedan has now managed to travel a total distance of 1202 Kms, which is almost 200 Km more than the previous distance. In fact, the car reached its destination with charge to spare and had to be drained by putting a Formula-E driver in its driver’s seat.

The Mercedes Vision EQXX managed to travel the entire distance from Stuttgart in Germany to Silverstone in the UK. The car managed to do the entire trip on a single charge, which is what draws more attention that anything else. For EV owners, this is good news considering regular EVs are only able to cover less than half the distance. Note that the Vision EQXX is a concept car and Mercedes is still not posting these figures on its production cars.

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Mercedes EV exceeds 1200 Kms on single charge

In order to achieve the range though, the Mercedes drivers had to move at sane speeds. Mercedes says that the car travelled at an average speed of 83 Kmph, which isn’t exactly fast by today’s standards. This is best classified as cruise speeds, which is what most EV drivers are comfortable sitting at in the city or suburbs.

The Vision EQXX was eventually maxed out at 140Kmph but that happened when it reached its destination. The destination was the Silverstone race track, where the next Formula GP will take place. Formula-E driver Nyck De Vries eventually completed 11 laps of the race track in order to drain the battery fully.

Obviously, the mega range of this EV was made possible due to the slippery and long tail design of the car. The Vision EQXX has a longtail design inspired from race cars that helps to reduce the drag coefficient to 0.17. On an EV, this helps in a way.