Mercedes has unveiled a new all-electric concept car, the EQXX, that the company claims can go 620 miles on a single charge. The futuristic luxury car is also made with a host of innovative recycled and sustainable materials including mushroom fibers, ground up cacti and trash such as food scraps.
Mercedes’ range claim for this concept vehicle is based on computer simulated testing, not actual driving, the company said. If the claim is accurate, though, the EQXX would be able to drive farther on a single charge than a Toyota Prius hybrid can travel on a full tank of gas, according to United States Environmental Protection Agency estimates. The Prius can only manage 588 miles. It’s nearly as far as the 644 miles that a diesel-powered Chevrolet Suburban can go on a 28-gallon tank of fuel. It’s also much farther than any other electric car currently available in the United States, according to the EPA.
Mercedes plans to demonstrate the car’s range in an actual driving test this spring, the company said.
Mercedes has said it intends for half its sales to be electric cars by 2025 and, by 2030, for the brand to be virtually “ready to go all electric.” Mercedes referred to the EQXX as a “technology blueprint for series production.” Mercedes plans to put a car with the EQXX’s battery and electric motor technology, as well as some of the car’s other features, into production in 2024, said Markus Schäfer, chief technology officer of Mercedes’ parent company Daimler.
Mercedes-Benz AG
Mercedes' range claim for this concept vehicle is based on computer simulated testing, not actual driving, the company said.
The EQXX achieves its remarkable range with a battery pack that is half as large and 30% lighter than the one in the Mercedes EQS, the German automakers current fully electric sedan, while storing the same amount of energy, according to Mercedes. At 620 miles, or 1,000 kilometers, the EQXX would provide about 133 miles more driving distance on a charge than the EQS based on European range estimates for that car.
The EQXX gains those extra miles largely through efficiency, according to Mercedes. Mercedes claims the EQXX can travel more than 6 miles per kilowatt hour of electricity. That’s almost three times farther per kilowatt hour than a Tesla Model S Long Range, according to US EPA estimates. A kilowatt-hour is a unit of electrical energy stored in a car’s battery so miles per kilowatt hour is like miles per gallon for a gasoline car. The figures are much lower, though, because a gallon of gasoline contains almost 34 kilowatt hours of energy.
Mercedes-Benz AG
Much of the Mercedes-Benz Vision EQXX's extreme efficiency comes from attention to aerodynamics.
To reach that level of efficiency, Mercedes designers focused on aerodynamics. The EQXX has a drag coefficient of just 0.17, which is sightly more aerodynamic than a properly thrown football. It’s also more aerodynamic than today’s Mercedes EQS which, while still very aerodynamic, has a drag coefficient of 0.20. A Porsche 911 Turbo has a drag coefficient of 0.33, according to Porsche.
The car is also designed to be as light as possible, according to Mercedes. Besides the relatively light battery pack it has wheels made from magnesium, and aluminum brakes. Springs in the EQXX’s suspension are made from glass-fiber reinforced plastic instead of metal.
The EQXX’s body includes a web-like subframe designed to have metal only where it’s actually needed for structural integrity and crash safety. Empty spaces in the frame are filled in with a material called UBQ, created by an Israeli startup. UBQ is made from landfill waste that can include things like mixed plastics, cardboard, gardening waste and even diapers, according to Mercedes-Benz. Solar panels in the roof supply supplemental energy for things like air conditioning, lights and the car’s touchscreen systems reducing demands on battery power.
Mercedes-Benz AG
The Mercedes-Benz Vision EQXX concept car lacks the traditional grille seen on Mercedes cars.
Besides the UBQ filler material in the body, the EQXX also utilizes sustainable materials in other parts of the car. A leather-like material made from mycelium, the underground root-like structures of mushrooms, is used in the seat cushions. Another leather substitute, made from pulverized cactus fibers, is used elsewhere in the interior. The carpets are made entirely of bamboo fiber, according to Mercedes.
Inside, the EQXX has an enormous touchscreen that stretches all they way across the dashboard. Unlike the ultra-wide “screen” in the EQS, which is actually three smaller screens under a single sheet of glass, the one in the EQXX really is a single four-foot wide screen. To save energy, unused portions of the screen dim.
Mercedes engineers and designers have also tried to give the car’s voice-control system more personality with a lifelike voice that’s more emotionally expressive. The system is represented by a human-shaped avatar made up of tiny stars. The figure is modeled on the young Mercedes Jellinek, the daughter of Emil Jellinek, an early (and particularly demanding) customer of Daimler, now Mercedes’ parent company.
In 1900, he commissioned a new sports car model that he insisted be named after his daughter. The car was such a success that her name later became attached to every car the company made.
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Photo Credit: buffaloboy / Shutterstock
Encouraging the adoption of electric vehicles is a high priority for many policymakers and environmentalists concerned with how to limit carbon emissions. President Joe Biden in August signed an executive order setting ambitious new targets for the sale of hybrid and electric vehicles, and Biden’s American Jobs Plan proposal included a $174 billion investment in electric vehicle production and adoption along with charging infrastructure.
Consumer demand for EVs has already been trending upward as the technology behind electric vehicles has improved. The total stock of electric vehicles worldwide hit 10 million in 2020, a 43% increase over the prior year. And while much of the auto market took a hit during the pandemic, demand for EV was more resilient than for other vehicle types.
Most of this growth in the industry has happened very recently. While electric vehicles were a competitor to the internal combustion engine when automobiles were first manufactured in the late 1800s and early 1900s, they fell out of vogue and were uncommon on the market until the last few decades. The 1990s saw the introduction of some new hybrid and plug-in electric vehicle models from major manufacturers like Toyota and GM. After Tesla emerged in the mid-2000s, offering longer-range, luxury models that proved popular with drivers, more major manufacturers began to offer new EV models. Over just a decade, the number of EV models on the market rose from only one in 2009 to 72 in 2019, according to data from the U.S. Department of Energy.
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Improvements in battery life and charging technology have been a major force in speeding the growth of electric vehicles. As recently as a few years ago, some of the top all-electric vehicle models had a range of less than 100 miles, and the battery charging infrastructure in the U.S. was limited. These factors made electric vehicles less viable for longer trips and limited their uptake with consumers. In more recent years, however, research and investment from the U.S. Department of Energy, startups like Tesla, and traditional auto giants like General Motors have given batteries a longer range and made them easier to charge with more charging stations and improved charging times.
Charging infrastructure remains a barrier in many locations, however. Chargers break down into three categories: Level 1 chargers, which use a 120-volt household outlet and add between two and five miles of range per hour; Level 2 chargers, which replenish at an average rate of about 10 to 20 miles of range per hour; and Level 3 chargers (also known as DC Fast Charging), which use direct current and higher voltage to recharge EVs at a rate of up to four miles per minute (240 miles per hour). Currently, Level 2 chargers represent the bulk of publicly available charging stations, with more than 80% of the total, while Level 3 chargers represent only around 18% of the public EV chargers. Expanding the supply of Level 3 chargers nationwide would make charging more convenient for more consumers.
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Because of the uneven distribution of charging technology, some areas are more convenient than others to have an electric vehicle, and California tops the list. In addition to leading the nation in electric vehicle sales and market share, California also has the nation’s strongest charging infrastructure, accounting for roughly 30% of all U.S. electric vehicle charging stations. California’s dominance in EVs is unsurprising given that market leader Tesla is based in the state and the state government has supported EV adoption, including a recent executive order that mandates all new cars and passenger trucks sold in California be zero-emission vehicles by 2035.
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But on a per-vehicle basis, one state tops California in the number of EV charging stations: Vermont. The Green Mountain State is one of the smallest states in population and area, so its more than 300 electric charging stations are more highly concentrated than in many other larger and more populous states.
The data used in this analysis is from the U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. Department of Transportation. To determine the states with the most electric vehicle charging stations, researchers at Commodity.com calculated the total electric vehicle charging stations per 100k registered vehicles for each state. In the event of a tie, the state with more charging ports per 100k registered vehicles was ranked higher.
Here are the states with the most EV charging stations.
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Photo Credit: Sean Pavone / Shutterstock
- Total EV charging stations per 100k registered vehicles: 17.1
- Total EV charging ports per 100k registered vehicles: 35.1
- Total EV charging stations: 459
- Total EV charging ports: 942
- Total level 2 ports: 830
- Total level 3 ports (DC fast chargers): 110
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Photo Credit: Sean Pavone / Shutterstock
- Total EV charging stations per 100k registered vehicles: 17.3
- Total EV charging ports per 100k registered vehicles: 43.8
- Total EV charging stations: 1,490
- Total EV charging ports: 3,763
- Total level 2 ports: 3,004
- Total level 3 ports (DC fast chargers): 559
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Photo Credit: Sean Pavone / Shutterstock
- Total EV charging stations per 100k registered vehicles: 17.8
- Total EV charging ports per 100k registered vehicles: 37.6
- Total EV charging stations: 985
- Total EV charging ports: 2,080
- Total level 2 ports: 1,848
- Total level 3 ports (DC fast chargers): 227
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Photo Credit: f11photo / Shutterstock
- Total EV charging stations per 100k registered vehicles: 20.9
- Total EV charging ports per 100k registered vehicles: 50.9
- Total EV charging stations: 1,541
- Total EV charging ports: 3,757
- Total level 2 ports: 2,978
- Total level 3 ports (DC fast chargers): 699
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Photo Credit: Sean Pavone / Shutterstock
- Total EV charging stations per 100k registered vehicles: 22.7
- Total EV charging ports per 100k registered vehicles: 54.4
- Total EV charging stations: 889
- Total EV charging ports: 2,133
- Total level 2 ports: 1,673
- Total level 3 ports (DC fast chargers): 416
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Photo Credit: Sean Pavone / Shutterstock
- Total EV charging stations per 100k registered vehicles: 23.2
- Total EV charging ports per 100k registered vehicles: 48.6
- Total EV charging stations: 262
- Total EV charging ports: 549
- Total level 2 ports: 412
- Total level 3 ports (DC fast chargers): 131
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Photo Credit: Sean Pavone / Shutterstock
- Total EV charging stations per 100k registered vehicles: 23.8
- Total EV charging ports per 100k registered vehicles: 57.9
- Total EV charging stations: 2,710
- Total EV charging ports: 6,593
- Total level 2 ports: 5,816
- Total level 3 ports (DC fast chargers): 762
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Photo Credit: Sean Pavone / Shutterstock
- Total EV charging stations per 100k registered vehicles: 25.8
- Total EV charging ports per 100k registered vehicles: 67.6
- Total EV charging stations: 1,083
- Total EV charging ports: 2,840
- Total level 2 ports: 2,317
- Total level 3 ports (DC fast chargers): 502
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Photo Credit: Mihai Andritoiu / Shutterstock
- Total EV charging stations per 100k registered vehicles: 26.5
- Total EV charging ports per 100k registered vehicles: 60.2
- Total EV charging stations: 230
- Total EV charging ports: 523
- Total level 2 ports: 468
- Total level 3 ports (DC fast chargers): 35
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Photo Credit: Sean Pavone / Shutterstock
- Total EV charging stations per 100k registered vehicles: 26.5
- Total EV charging ports per 100k registered vehicles: 62.7
- Total EV charging stations: 1,432
- Total EV charging ports: 3,391
- Total level 2 ports: 2,804
- Total level 3 ports (DC fast chargers): 526
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Photo Credit: Dave H. Fine / Shutterstock
- Total EV charging stations per 100k registered vehicles: 28.7
- Total EV charging ports per 100k registered vehicles: 59.4
- Total EV charging stations: 365
- Total EV charging ports: 756
- Total level 2 ports: 668
- Total level 3 ports (DC fast chargers): 83
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Photo Credit: Sean Pavone / Shutterstock
- Total EV charging stations per 100k registered vehicles: 35.3
- Total EV charging ports per 100k registered vehicles: 73.5
- Total EV charging stations: 857
- Total EV charging ports: 1,787
- Total level 2 ports: 1,590
- Total level 3 ports (DC fast chargers): 195
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Photo Credit: Sean Pavone / Shutterstock
- Total EV charging stations per 100k registered vehicles: 37.2
- Total EV charging ports per 100k registered vehicles: 82.1
- Total EV charging stations: 1,881
- Total EV charging ports: 4,156
- Total level 2 ports: 3,760
- Total level 3 ports (DC fast chargers): 383
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Photo Credit: Chones / Shutterstock
- Total EV charging stations per 100k registered vehicles: 42.7
- Total EV charging ports per 100k registered vehicles: 109.7
- Total EV charging stations: 13,347
- Total EV charging ports: 34,266
- Total level 2 ports: 27,797
- Total level 3 ports (DC fast chargers): 6,158
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Shutterstock
Photo Credit: Sean Pavone / Shutterstock
- Total EV charging stations per 100k registered vehicles: 49.8
- Total EV charging ports per 100k registered vehicles: 133.9
- Total EV charging stations: 309
- Total EV charging ports: 831
- Total level 2 ports: 685
- Total level 3 ports (DC fast chargers): 75
