Mercedes: Vision EQXX could herald 620-mile EV by mid-decade

Mercedes-Benz could bring an electric vehicle with more than 620 miles of range to the market by mid-decade.

The automaker said it has developed a beefy battery that can power a vehicle from New York to Cincinnati on a single charge.

The battery, featured in the Vision EQXX concept, will make its way into a production vehicle around 2024, Mercedes-Benz Chief Technology Officer Markus Schäfer said this week.

The Vision EQXX is "more than a halo car, it's more than a concept car — it's a technology program," Schäfer told journalists on a conference call. "We gave a simple task to the engineering organization: Create the most efficient electric vehicle that Mercedes has ever built."

To get there, Mercedes engineers worked with the automaker's Formula One and Formula E motorsport divisions to eke out efficiency improvements in the electric motor, inverter, battery design, packaging and thermal management.

The Vision EQXX, which stretches the imagination with a mix of fantastical technologies and lightweight materials, is a template for future Mercedes models.

Daimler plans to invest more than $46 billion from 2022 to 2030 to develop EVs and become an all-electric brand in markets ready for the switch.

The coupe-styled Vision EQXX, developed over 18 months, delivers nearly the energy of the full-size Mercedes EQS sedan.

The battery pack holds almost 100 kilowatt-hours of energy yet is half the size and 30 percent lighter than the one in the EQS, Mercedes said.

To achieve increased efficiency without increasing the battery's footprint, engineers increased the silicon content in the anodes.

"We're taking this chemistry to the next level," Schäfer said. "We are increasing by another 20 percent energy density on the cell level."

The auto industry is locked in an arms race to develop longer-range and lower-cost EVs, and batteries are a critical piece of the puzzle.

The energy density of lithium ion batteries is improving about 3 percent annually, said Sam Abuelsamid, principal analyst at Guidehouse Insights. Next-generation solid-state batteries claim to as much as double energy density, Abuelsamid said.

Mercedes-Benz designed a new battery pack for the Vision EQXX, creating more room for cells and reducing the overall weight. The battery's lightweight lid is made of a composite material derived from sugar cane waste and reinforced with carbon fiber.

Physically shrinking the battery pack creates a virtuous cycle, Abuelsamid said.

"A smaller, lighter pack requires less structural material to support it, which can potentially take hundreds of pounds out of the car," he said. "A lighter vehicle is also more energy-efficient, enabling it to travel the same distance on fewer batteries."

With its new battery, Mercedes is chasing the holy grail for EV makers: the ability to eliminate range anxiety and do so cost-effectively.

Range anxiety, or the fear of running out of power, will remain an impediment to EV adoption in the near term, Schäfer said.

"Until the charging network improves on a global basis, we think that Mercedes customers appreciate more range in their vehicles," he said.

EV customers want to be assured that they can go on extended road trips, even in cold weather, without running out of battery power.

"They don't want to drive the car with gloves inside," Schäfer said.

But while Mercedes has the technology to deliver a battery with a range of more than 620 miles, or 1,000 kilometers, it doesn't mean it will bring it to market right away.

"We haven't made a final decision that we need to put a thousand kilometers," Schäfer said. "Probably we don't need all this range in a compact car."

Even so, a high-energy battery means Mercedes can fit future EVs with smaller, more affordable packs that still deliver a competitive range.

That lowers the material cost for the automaker and reduces the total cost of ownership for the customer, Schäfer said.