With the Vision EQXX, Mercedes is going the extra mile, literally. It wants the highly efficient EV to cover 621 miles and therefore smash the 1,000-kilometer barrier. Even though the three-pointed star has canceled its in-person appearance at CES due to coronavirus concerns, the revolutionary concept car is still on track to make an official debut on January 3, 2022.
In the meantime, the German luxury brand has released the second episode of its video series about the EQXX and how it aims to become Mercedes’ most efficient car ever. Hitting the 1,000-km target is not easy as a lot of work goes into the car’s design to make it slippery and thus lower its drag coefficient.
According to Steffen Kohl part of the Advanced Exterior Design team, the hotly anticipated EV “should look fantastic” even though aerodynamics have top priority in the design phase. He is brutally honest by saying “we don’t wanna make it look shit” for the sake of a better Cd, one that will likely be lower than the 0.20 of the EQS.
The Vision EQXX is the outcome of hundreds of sketches done until the people working on the concept all agreed on the perfect compromise between aesthetics and functionality. Active aero body elements played an important role during the development stage, including the implementation of an active rear diffuser. Without it, Mercedes would’ve had to make the vehicle either longer or narrower, but it didn’t want that.
The designers and aerodynamic engineers had many talks about what has to stay and what must go before finalizing the shape of the all-electric concept car. Mercedes admits it had to overcome numerous hurdles during development, not just in terms of aero and design, but also regarding engineering.
In the end, “science and sexy shape came together.” We’ll see the end result on Monday.
Source: Mercedes-Benz
