Beware of still or dripping water, as the saying goes.
This saying seems to have stood the test of time in the automotive industry and corresponds to the Mercedes-Benz group (DDAIF) .
The German brand has so far stayed in the background as competitors announce their projects and products in the very lucrative electric vehicle market.
To believe that Mercedes-Benz, whose technological knowledge is undisputed, had lost the memo distributed by Tesla (TSLA) – Get Tesla Inc Report and its CEO Elon Musk is a question that has started to bother even the most devoted fans of the star brand. According to this memo or the so-called master plan, the car of the future will be electric and autonomous.
All vehicle manufacturers, long-established car manufacturers and new players, swear by and for electric vehicles. Each week is therefore marked by a barrage of announcements despite supply chains being disrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic, the shortage of chips and the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
We have to believe that Mercedes-Benz hadn’t fallen asleep in all this time as the German automaker just made a spectacular announcement.
Mercedes Benz
1,000 kilometers without recharging
A prototype electric car, the EQXX, from Mercedes-Benz has traveled more than 1,000 kilometers without recharging, with a battery similar in capacity to current models, an achievement that the manufacturer claims to have “pioneed” in the battle for the celebrates autonomy.
The car covered 1,008 km (626 miles) in real-world conditions and traffic between the group’s research center in Sindelfingen in southern Germany and Cassis on the French Riviera, Mercedes said in a statement. The battery charge level on arrival was around 15 percent, which corresponded to a remaining range of around 140 kilometers (87 miles), and the average consumption was a record-breaking 8.7 kWh per 100 kilometers (7.1 kWh per 62 miles). It arrived in almost 12 hours.
“We made it!” boasted Ola Källenius, CEO of Mercedes-Benz Group AG. The EQXX is the most efficient Mercedes ever built. The technology program behind it marks a milestone in the development of electric vehicles.”
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Equipped with a 100-kilowatt-hour (kWh) battery, the particularly efficient prototype consumed less than half of current comparison models.
The electric S-Class from Mercedes-Benz EQS, the current spearhead of the group’s luxury electric vehicles at more than 100,000 euros ($108,308), consumes between 16 and 17 kWh per 100 km, often more in real-world conditions. The range is 780 km according to the WLTP standard.
Tesla Model 3 and Tesla Model S, their direct competitors, have an autonomy of up to 650 km with a consumption generally between 16 and 20 kWh per 100 km.
This feat raises fears that Mercedes-Benz will deprive Tesla of innovation leadership. Tesla’s advantage and strength has so far been based on its technological prowess over its competitors.
Mercedes Benz
Consumers will soon be able to benefit from these innovations
Mercedes-Benz said it used an aerodynamic profile, improved braking energy recovery, a lighter battery, roof-mounted solar panels to power onboard systems, new lighter materials and a transmission system with very low energy loss.
According to the company, the same car with the most efficient internal combustion engine would certainly have consumed three to four liters of fuel per 100 km.
The electrical energy consumed is equivalent to about a liter, but the efficiency of the traditional transmission is less advantageous than that of electrical engineering, Mercedes-Benz said. A new battery chemistry makes it possible, in particular, to make them denser, i.e. smaller and less heavy.
This is the next generation of chemistry, which the manufacturer wants to use more widely by 2024, it said.
“Many of the innovative developments are already being integrated into production, some of them into the next generation of modular architectures for Mercedes-Benz compact and mid-range vehicles,” says Markus Schäfer, Board Member for Technology responsible for Development and Purchasing. “We will continue to explore the limits of what is feasible.