Electric vehicle batteries are in short supply, and costs for materials such as nickel and cobalt are surging. Yet legacy automaker Ford Motor says it plans to be profitably building millions of EVs a year in just four years.
This week, the Detroit automaker gave investors a little more clarity about how it plans to reach that goal and transform its business built on gas-guzzling cars.
As electric vehicles account for a growing share of the global car market, Ford in March announced it would reorganize its business and separate its internal-combustion engine and electric vehicle efforts. By 2026, it said it expects to build more than 2 million electric vehicles annually — about a third of its total global production — while expanding its operating profit margin.
Wall Street analysts were generally positive about the plan, but some expressed skepticism about the lack of specifics around how the company plans to overcome the supply challenges in the market. Morgan Stanley's Adam Jonas called it a "stretch" goal and said he lacked confidence in Ford's ability to secure enough raw materials and tooling to manufacture batteries to even come close to its projection.
Ford addressed some of those concerns in another presentation on July 21, when it told investors that it has secured enough batteries to get to its near-term target: 600,000 EVs per year by the end of 2023. As of now, it said, it has secured about 70% of what it needs to hit its 2026 goal.
Ford promised to share more about how it plans to hit its goals during its annual capital markets day next year. But during its second-quarter earnings call last week, CEO Jim Farley gave some more hints about the automaker's strategy.
A chance to simplify
Instead of just swapping out internal-combustion engines for batteries and electric motors, Farley has said the company is completely rethinking how it develops its vehicles — and how it keeps them fresh over time.
The company sees a new era where it will be able to freshen its electric vehicles with upgrades to software, batteries and electric motors, much as Tesla does. That means the most costly parts of a vehicle — the sheet metal body panels and the underpinnings that form its overall proportions — won't have to be changed as frequently.
"We have an opportunity as we go digital with these EVs, to simplify our body engineering and put the engineering where customers really care," Farley said last week. "And it's not a different fender. It's software. It's a digital display technology. It's a self-driving system and the [autonomous vehicle] tech. And of course it's going to be, in some cases, more powerful motors."
Ford typically redesigns its traditional vehicle models every five to seven years. If it can extend that time by relying on software updates to keep its vehicles fresh, rather than body redesigns, it could save fortunes.
It's part of how Ford expects to improve its operating margin to 10% by 2026. For its second quarter, the company posted a 9.3% adjusted operating margin. Those results were helped by tight new-vehicle inventories that have allowed Ford to boost its prices.
Fitting dealers into the future
Ford is at a disadvantage to companies like Tesla and EV startups that sell directly to consumers, without dealers acting as middlemen.
The company isn't planning to eliminate its franchised dealers, which enjoy strong legal protections in many U.S. states that effectively forbid Ford from selling directly to its customers as Tesla does. But Farley said that Ford sees a path to reducing that cost disadvantage — which he estimates at around $2,000 per vehicle — by keeping dealers' inventories very low and by shifting the way Ford markets its products.
One key to that effort: Ford plans to let customers order its EVs online rather than buying a vehicle from a dealer's inventory.
As Farley sees it, dealers will have only a few new vehicles on their lots, just enough to offer test drives to customers before they order. Customers will be able to order from the dealership or online "in their bunny slippers," Farley said, with the dealer making the delivery and providing service after the sale.
Farley estimates that the low dealer inventories and online ordering will make up roughly $1,200 to $1,300 of that $2,000 per-vehicle cost disadvantage, while ensuring that Ford's dealers remain profitable. The plan will free dealers from having to carry costly inventories, allowing them — in theory, at least — to focus more on service and customer education. That could give Ford an edge that EV makers selling direct won't be able to easily match.
"I think that's a different play than the pure EV companies," Farley said.
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July 31, 2022 at 07:00PM
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Ford CEO offers more clues about automaker's ambitious electric vehicle plans - CNBC
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As sales of electric vehicles continue to surge, many new and prospective customers have questions about qualifying for federal tax credit on electric vehicles.
Whether you qualify is not a simple yes or no question… well, actually it sort of is, but the amount you may qualify for varies by household due to a number of different factors. Furthermore, there are other potential savings available to you that you might not even know about yet.
Luckily, we have compiled everything you need to know about tax credits for your new or current electric vehicle into one place. The goal is to help ensure you are receiving the maximum value on your carbon-conscious investment because, let’s face it, you’ve gone green and you deserve it.
Table of contents
How does a federal tax credit work for my EV?
The idea in theory is quite simple — “All electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles that were purchased new in or after 2010 may be eligible for a federal income tax credit of up to $7,500,” according to the US Department of Energy.
With that said, you cannot simply go out and buy an electric vehicle and expect Uncle Sam to cut $7,500 off your taxes in April. In reality, the amount you qualify for is based on both your income tax as well as the size of the electric battery in the vehicle you own. Here’s how it works.
How much is the federal tax credit?
First and foremost, it’s important to understand three little words the government slips in front of the $7,500 credit – “may” and “up to.” As in, you may qualify for up to $7,500 in federal tax credit for your electric vehicle. At first glance, this credit may sound like a simple flat rate, but that is unfortunately not the case.
For example, if you purchased a Nissan LEAF and owed say, $3,500 in income tax this year, then that is the federal tax credit you would receive. If you owed $10,000 in federal income tax, then you would qualify for the full $7,500 credit.
It’s important to note that any unused portion of the $7,500 is not available as a refund, nor as a credit for next year’s taxes. Bummer.
The 2023 Nissan LEAF / Source: Nissan
Other federal tax credit rules to note as an electric vehicle owner
Hopefully you better understand how the government determines its tax credits for individuals based on your federal income tax and vehicle, but it’s important to stay aware of additional fine print. This is the US government, after all.
First, understand that these federal tax credits will not last forever, and they may have already expired for your vehicle. As the demand for electric vehicles increases, sales push certain manufacturers over the predetermined threshold of qualified sales… at least for now.
This includes US automakers like Tesla, who topped over 200,000 qualified plug-in electrics sold a few years ago, and as a result no longer qualifies for any federal tax credit. Fear not, Tesla owners, there are still ways to save money on your EV purchase! See the “tax incentives for Tesla buyers” section below.
Other automakers like General Motors have also reached that threshold and could benefit from revised legislation to reinstate the credit.. more on that later. Most recently, Toyota announced its on the verge of passing 200,000 EVs sold therefore losing eligibility for federal tax credits.
At this rate, the Japanese automaker expects to hit 200k in late June of 2022. If that is the case, credits for Toyota EVs (PHEVs rather) will be phased out gradually into 2023, so you may still qualify for a credit, but it will be dwindling on borrowed time.
Another important rule to keep in mind is that the federal tax credit cannot be passed on. This credit applies to the original registered owner only. That means any used EVs you already have or are going to purchase are immediately disqualified.
Same rules apply to any lease on an electric vehicle as well. In this case, the tax credit goes to the manufacturer that’s offering the lease to you. However, an automaker might be willing to apply the tax credit into the cost of your lease to help lower your payments, but that’s not guaranteed. It’s definitely worth an ask!
Can a household receive multiple Federal tax credits?
Several readers have reached out and asked if they qualify for multiple tax breaks if they purchase more than one EV in a calendar year. The short answer is yes.
However, we must preface this by relaying that the IRS is the official source for all federal tax information and responsible for administering the federal plug-in vehicle tax credits. It is best to consult with a qualified tax professional to make sure you do in fact qualify before purchasing multiple electric vehicles.
That being said, the fueleconomy.gov team was not aware of any limitations on the number of vehicles you may claim tax credits for provided that you have enough federal tax burden for that purchase year.
With that said, if two people in your household each purchase an eligible vehicle and both have $7,500 in federal tax burden, then each should be able to claim the tax credit.
If a single person purchases two eligible plug-in electric vehicles with tax credits up to $7,500 for each vehicle, they should be able to claim $15,000 in tax credits if their federal tax burden is $15,000 or more for the calendar year in which they purchased those vehicles.
Again, speak with a tax professional or the IRS to be certain this is possible.
The Biden administration looks to expand electric vehicles
Previously, there were rumors that the federal tax credit would be increased to $10,000. In President Biden’s recent $174 billion investment plan for electrification, the tax credit was quickly mentioned as a reform. However, the summary remained vague about the reform – only confirming that it will not only take the form of tax rebates but also “point of sale rebates” and it will now be for “American-made EVs.”
The second and larger bill currently sill sits in Congress contain’s Biden’s “Build Back Better Act” and subsequent increases to the federal tax credit. Here’s where it currently stands.
Status of the $12,500 federal tax credit for EVs
When the aforementioned $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill was passed in November of 2021, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had planned to also vote on the $1.75 trillion “Build Back Better Act” and the $12,500 federal EV tax credit within it.
However, a small group of moderates in the House refused to support the legislation without a cost estimate from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). As a compromise, the House approved a procedural vote required to open Biden’s “Build Back Better Act” to passage, following an official CBO cost estimate.
This week, the US Senate shared it is moving forward to vote on EV tax credit reform after Senator Joe Manchin took a break from huffing coal to finally agree to include investments to curb climate change.
One of the most prominent parts of the bill (to us) includes the long-awaited and fought over electric vehicle tax credit reform. In this iteration of the bill, access to the tax credit will be returned to those who have already exhausted the threshold, including Tesla, GM vehicles, and most recently Toyota.
We have learned that the reform bill (if passed) will also apply to EV delivered after December 31, 2022. Here’s the latest iteration of the terms of the bill:
Federal tax credit for EVs will remain at $7,500
Tax credit cap for automakers after they hit 200,000 EVs sold is eliminated, making GM, Tesla and Toyota once again eligible
The language in the bill indicates that the tax credit would be implemented at the point of sale instead of on taxes at the end of the fiscal year
In order to get the full credit, the EV must be assembled in North America, the majority of battery components need to come from North America, and contain a certain percentage of minerals from countries with free trade agreements with the US
Includes a new federal tax credit of $4,000 for used EVs
Includes zero-emission vans, SUVs, and trucks with MSRPs up to $80,000
Electric sedans priced up to $55,000 MSRP also qualify
The full electric vehicle tax credit will be available to individuals reporting adjusted gross incomes of $150,000 or less, or $300,000 for joint filers
You can see the terms of the deal in greater detail here. while the bill now looks promising with Senator Manchin onboard, it is not yet law until it passes through the Senate vote and hits POTUS’ desk for the final signature.
Does your electric vehicle qualify for tax credit?
Now that you understand what hurdles you may have to overcome to qualify for the federal tax credit, let’s see how much that EV in your driveway might be able to save you this year.
Please note that these qualifying vehicles are relevant at the time this post has been published. We will update this page as the vehicles and their designated credits change.
Other tax credits available for electric vehicle owners
So now you should know if your vehicle does in fact qualify for a federal tax credit, and how much you might be able to save.
Perhaps, however, you plan to spring for the Tesla Model S or you already drive a 2017 Chevy Bolt and no longer qualify for any tax credit… at least not quite yet. Don’t worry! Before giving up hope on your tax break quest for the year, keep in mind the other incentives offered in each state.
State tax incentives
In additional to any federal credit you may or may not qualify for, there are a number of clean transportation laws, regulations, and funding opportunities available at the state level.
For example, in the state of California, drivers can qualify for a $2,000-$4,500 rebate or a grant up to $5,000 under the Clean Vehicle Assistance Program on top of any federal credit received (all rebate and grant amounts are based on income). Furthermore, states like California offer priority driving lanes and parking spots for EV drivers who qualify.
In New York, residents can receive either a $500 or $2,000 rebate depending on the base price of the EV purchased. Again, these incentives vary by state, and much like the federal tax credit, are contingent on multiple factors.
To check what incentives you may qualify for, the Alternative Fuels Data Center is a great resource from the US Department of Energy. This page allows you to tap or click your respective state and research what options might be available to you and your electric vehicle.
Source: Fueleconomy.gov
Tax incentives for Tesla buyers
If you’re a current or prospective Tesla owner and have read this far, you’re probably not super psyched right now. Tesla’s record number of sales is great for the automaker, but not for your tax return, right?
Tesla has compiled its own database of resources by state to help its customers calculate their potential savings before they even commit to buy.
It’s also important to note that all incentives mostly apply to purchases by cash or loan only.
Tax incentives on electric vehicles are worth the research
Hopefully this post has helped to incentivize you to use the resources above to your advantage.
Whether it’s calculating potential savings or rebates before making a new EV purchase or determining what tax credits might already be available to you for your current electric vehicle, there is much to discover.
Ditching fossil fuels for greener roadways should already feel rewarding, but right now the government is willing to reward you further for your environmental efforts.
Use it to your full capability while you can, because as more and more people start going electric, the less the government will need to reward drivers.
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July 29, 2022 at 08:03PM
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Here’s every electric vehicle that currently qualifies for the US federal tax credit - Electrek.co
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An electric vehicle charger is seen in Manhattan, New York, U.S., December 7, 2021. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly
WASHINGTON, July 28 (Reuters) - Automakers and U.S. lawmakers on Thursday were closely reviewing details of a proposed expansion of the electric vehicle tax credit that could help retool factories to build green vehicles and cut greenhouse gas emissions.
Under a deal announced by Senator Chuck Schumer, the 200,000-vehicle per manufacturer cap on the $7,500 EV tax credit would be lifted and a new $4,000 used EV tax credit adopted. Lawmakers and automaker executives want to know more about whether content sourcing requirements will bar many if not all EVs from getting tax credits and if consumers will be able to use it at the time of sale.
The new EV tax credit would be subject to rising annual sourcing requirements for critical minerals and components used in batteries. Congressional aides and automakers said the provisions were aimed at China, which produces much of the world's critical minerals for batteries.
"The basic structure I am fine with," Representative Dan Kildee told Reuters. He wants more details on "our ability to source these materials... "We need to make sure it is workable and it does what we intended."
Schumer told reporters the EV provisions would account for a "very small" amount of the anticipated 40% reduction in emissions expected from the bill.
Schumer said Manchin had "some real disagreements" about the EV tax credit "so we tried to come to a compromise. It's not everything I would want."
General Motors (GM.N), which has pushed Congress to lift the cap, said it would "review the draft text and look forward to working with Congress on these provisions that would ensure a level playing field."
The bill also includes billions in new loans and grants for auto production, including a $10 billion investment tax credit to build clean-technology manufacturing facilities, $2 billion in cash grants to retool existing auto manufacturing facilities and up to $20 billion in loans to build new clean vehicle manufacturing facilities.
Last year, President Joe Biden proposed boosting EV tax credits to up to $12,500 per vehicle -- including $4,500 for union-made vehicles -- and eventually making the credits apply only to U.S. made vehicles.
The Schumer Manchin proposal dropped the union and U.S. production requirements. It keeps the maximum credit at $7,500 per EV. Canada on Thursday hailed the revised bill that does not include the U.S-only provision.
The bill includes rising requirements for the percentage of North American battery components by value and would disallow any batteries after 2023 with any Chinese battery components. Some auto executives the timelines for requirements are too aggressive and will prevent use of the credit.
Automakers including GM and Tesla (TSLA.O) hit the cap and are no longer eligible for the existing EV tax credit while Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T) said this month it has hit the cap, which means its credit will phaseout in 2023.
The new EV tax credits would be limited to trucks, vans and SUVs with suggested retail prices of no more than $80,000 and to cars priced at no more than $55,000. They would be limited to families with adjusted gross incomes of up to $300,000 annually.
Biden's target is for EVs to comprise half of all new vehicles sold in 2030.
Zero Emission Transportation Association Executive Director Joe Britten said the EV credit is "going to be a huge accelerant to invest" in production of U.S. batteries and critical minerals.
Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by David Gregorio
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July 29, 2022 at 03:50AM
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U.S. Senate Democratic electric vehicle tax credit plan faces questions - Reuters
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Nearly all of Oregon’s 41 electric utilities have submitted theirfinal plansto the state for preventing wildfires and managing shutoffs, according to the Public Utilities Commission.
Most were submitted this month as the beginning of Oregon’s wildfire season was declared. Just one, from the Clearwater Power Company, which serves about 177 customers in northeast Oregon, will take until August to file its plans.
This is the first time such plans have been mandatory since Senate Bill 762, the omnibus wildfire bill, passed in 2021. It requires electric utilities in the state to identify areas they serve that have a high wildfire potential and to create a strategy for minimizing risks and for protecting public safety.
Utilities must alsocome up with a processfor informing local officials and emergency managers ahead of possible power shutoffs and to provide frequent updates.
“As we anticipate higher than average temperatures in the next week, we appreciate that Oregon electric utilities have gone through the planning process to prepare for a possible” shutoff, Commissioner Letha Tawney wrote in a statement.
Utilities ultimately decide whether to initiate a power shutoff during extreme and dangerous weather conditions. Shutoffs could help save the homes and other structures of hundreds, even thousands of Oregonians by preventing wildfires.
The Public Utilities Commission – a governor-appointed group of three – only oversees the three investor-owned electric companies operating in the state: Portland General Electric, PacifiCorp and Idaho Power. They serve about 1.5 million people, or about one-third of the state’s population, and had their plans approved in April. Local boards or municipalities approved plans from Oregon’s 38 other electric utilities that are either consumer-owned or overseen by local boards or municipalities before they went to the commission this month.
The Eugene Water and Electricity Board, the largest consumer-owned utility in the state, which serves 96,000 customers, is spending $1 million on equipment updates, maintenance and vegetation management and removal in high-risk places, especially around the McKenzie River Valley. The 2020 Holiday Farm Fire in the area burned more than 170,000 acres and destroyed about 500 homes. Its cause is still unknown.
“A lot of this is stuff we’ve been doing for years and years andwe’re adding more wildfire prevention on top,”said Jeannine Parisi, the Eugene Board’s resiliency manager. Parisi said the utility is upgrading some transmission lines in high-risk areas to go into “safety mode” when the National Weather Service declares a “red flag warning.” Those warnings signal warm temperatures, low humidity and strong winds coalescing to create wildfire conditions. In safety mode, if a tree limb hits a wire or an environmental factor is stressing the line, it sends a signal to the utility and they can send a technician to investigate and to decide whether the line needs to be temporarily shut off.
In 2021, the utility shut down one of its transmission lines in the McKenzie River area for a week at the request of the U.S. Forest Service when a fire was moving quickly nearby.
“It’s always an action of last resort,” Parisi said.
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July 27, 2022 at 07:34PM
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Electric utilities submit final plans to prevent wildfires, shutoffs as season ramps up – Oregon Capital Chronicle - Oregon Capital Chronicle
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New research explores a hurdle sometimes missed in the excitement about the electric vehicle growth: People don't buy cars very often.
The big picture:The peer-reviewed work analyzes a vast array of studies on EV growth levels that would be consistent with Paris Agreement temperature targets.
One key finding: "The slow speed of fleet turnover presents a substantial barrier to deep decarbonization," states the analysis, a chapter in a new book on energy transition.
Zoom in: It models targets for boosting electric vehicle and other zero-emissions vehicle (ZEV) sales and phasing out sales of conventional gasoline- and diesel-powered cars, such as the U.K. target of 2030.
It sets this against the average lifetime of internal combustion cars, which in the U.S. is 16 years. Smush them together and there's a big "turnover lag."
"Achieving a ZEV share consistent with 1.5°C pathways would require a combination of a relatively early ban by around 2030 and an average non-ZEV lifetime shorter than 10 years."
More aggressive policies and incentives that encourage faster turnover are needed for pathways to limit warming to 1.5°C and 2°C.
What they're saying: "People generally tend to underestimate how difficult it is to change a stock variable, like all cars on the road. There is too much focus on the flow, or vehicle sales," Emil Dimanchev of the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, lead author of the chapter, said via email.
Yes, but: Cleaner cars don't decarbonize light-duty road transport alone. The research also notes the need for policies that help reduce travel demand growth and more.
You can’t operate an electric vehicle without charging the battery and state agencies say that’s the problem part right now. An alliance of those agencies is spending hundreds of millions of dollars to build charger stations. John Markowitz from the State Power Authority says the need was clear.
“Outside of the proprietary Tesla fast-charging network, it was really impossible to drive a non-Tesla EV in large portions of the state, back in 2018, like the North Country, the Southern Tier and part of Western New York were pretty much DC fast-charging deserts.”
It’s still not easy and Washington dollars bring with them rules and regulations. The State Thruway is the only Interstate which can have chargers with fees right on the road. Others have to be at least one mile off the road. At the same time, those rules include ADA accessibility rules and requirements for enough electricity to operate four chargers.
There’s a shortage of workers to build and maintain the units. NYSERDA’s Adam Ruder says his agency will cooperate with SUNY on training.
“To encourage folks across the state to use these training programs and, to the extent that that element and the charger installation and maintenance training can be part of how we approach workforce development, then we will certainly try to piggyback on other efforts that are going on.”
There are also the usual quirks of deep government involvement in where its money goes. Zeryai Hagos from the Public Service Commission cites small public power system in discussing local governments getting help to build charger stations for its vehicles.
“As long as the municipality is a customer of one of the six investor-owned utilities or the Long Island Power Authority. The main reason for that is that the funding for those programs.was raised from those utility customers. So, if you happen to be one of the few municipalities that isn't served by one of the major utilities, you wouldn't be eligible, but most are.”
Albany is putting together a federally mandated annual plan on helping convert car fuel from fossil to electricity.
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July 25, 2022 at 12:38PM
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Albany is pushing to get more electric chargers on the roadside to encourage more electric cars - WBFO
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Enlarge/ There's only one Mercedes-Benz Vision EQXX, so bringing it back in one piece was important.
Jonathan Gitlin
IMMENDINGEN, GERMANY—Driving off in the Mercedes-Benz Vision EQXX was slightly more stressful than I anticipated. Not that it's difficult to drive, or to see out of the low-slung streamliner, but it's also the only one in existence. Mercedes wouldn't tell us the program's exact budget, simply warning us that the sole EQXX should be considered priceless, but I'd guess somewhere in the range of three Bugatti Pur Sports.
Like the Bugatti, the EQXX was built to an engineering brief—in this case to build an electric vehicle capable of at least 621 miles (1,000km) on a single charge. Also like the Bugatti, it's road-legal: in April of this year, less than two years after the project was given the green light, the team drove the EV 625 miles (1,006 km) from Sindelfingen in Germany to Cassis, France, arriving with a 15 percent state of charge in the battery.
Two months later, they followed that up with a longer drive that involved descending down fewer mountains, driving from Stuttgart, Germany to the Silverstone racetrack in the UK, where reigning Formula E champion Nyck de Vries then used the remaining charge to drive some hot laps, the car eventually completing 747 miles (1,202 km) before coming to a halt in the pit lane.
But this is not Bugatti and there are no plans for a low volume production run, not even at eye-waveringly expensive prices. The Vision EQXX is a one-off, a concept car come to life, but more fully realized than any other concept I've yet encountered. A pure engineering exercise or world record breaker wouldn't bother with a functional infotainment system that uses a single 44-inch 8k display, nor a completely trimmed interior, even if it is one that uses a cactus fiber fabric instead of leather, bamboo fiber carpets, and a biotech-derived silk, among other innovations.
And despite the priceless nature of this low-drag EV, Mercedes let Ars drive it.
Enlarge/ It's a dramatic shape, but in service to the laws of aerodynamics.
Jonathan Gitlin
As you might guess from the way it looks, the Vision EQXX's shape is more than a little aero-optimized. About 62 percent of the work the motor has to do is fighting against air resistance, after all. It's a smaller car than it seems from the pictures—about a foot shorter than the production EQS at 195.9 inches long. And that includes the long overhanging nose and tail, so the Vision EQXX's wheelbase is actually compact car-short, at 110.2 inches (2,800 mm).
A narrow 73.6-inch (1,870-mm) width and low 53.1-inch (1,348-mm) roofline give the car a rather small frontal area—22.8 sq ft (2.12 m2)—and frontal area works with the drag coefficient, which in this case is just 0.17, which makes it one of the lowest-drag cars ever made.
From the nose to the C pillar it might remind you of the Porsche Taycan, a very slippery customer itself. The door handles retract flush to the doors, or at least they do up front; the rear doors don't open, one of the few tells that this really is a concept and not a production car.
The side view mirrors are of a size you might expect to find on a racing car rather than something wearing a license plate, but they work well enough. Which is good, because there's no rear window. Instead that space, and the roof too, is given over to a 300 w solar array that feeds into the car's 12 V battery which like the traction battery is also lithium ion. (Since the priceless one-off will never be left parked outside for very long, Mercedes didn’t bother adding the extra gubbins that would allow the panel to trickle-charge the traction battery.)
From the rear wheels back, it's like little else, other than perhaps the Lightyear Solo. When parked, the lower part of the tail retracts into the bodywork, extending out when the car's onboard brain decides its more efficient to do so.
Enlarge/ The rear extension can also be retracted if you need to drive up a ramp.
Jonathan Gitlin
Rolling resistance is the next-most important factor in efficiency. The bespoke Bridgestone tires keep a tall and narrow profile at 185/60, but on 20-inch wheels. You can tell there's something clever going on with the tires just by how rounded the shoulders are, but a closer look reveals that even the text on the tires has been optimized not to stick out too much, lest it add more drag than necessary. And if the tires didn't give the game away, the disc-like wheels themselves provide the punchline.
Under the skin there's some more cleverness you can't see. The EQXX team tried out new topographical optimization techniques, applied after the normal finite element analysis that's used to predict how a part might react to heat or vibration. That explains the organic shape of the aluminum casting that forms part of the car's rear structure, which features load paths that no engineer would draw in CAD. But extensive simulation allowed the EQXX to go from blank sheet to that first drive to the south of France in less than two years.
Enlarge/ Mercedes could have gone with plain discs for wheel faces, but that would have been a bit boring.
Jonathan Gitlin
At the Vision EQXX's core is the lithium ion traction battery, protected in a carbon fiber shell made by the Mercedes-AMG Formula 1 team. Mercedes-AMG High Performance Powertrains, which builds the company's F1 powertrains, also supplied the power electronics, and collaborated on the car's software with Mercedes-Benz's North American research arm, although the car's single motor—which drives the rear wheels—was designed in Stuttgart.
Interestingly, the battery pack features no active cooling; instead it sits atop a big metal plate that provides structural protection but also acts as a heat sink. Ditching liquid cooling was a bold move, but that's what engineering projects like the Vision EQXX are for, and Mercedes' engineers told me that doing so not only saved a lot of weight but obviously also meant no need for a big radiator or the grille you'd want to feed it cold air. (There is a small grille behind an active shutter that opens when the climate control needs fresh air.)
As it needs to fit the EV's wheelbase, the battery pack is quite compact, and nothing is carried over from production electric Mercedes like the EQS. The cells are an R&D project, optimized for greater energy density, with more silicon in the anode than you'd find in the Mercedes-Benz EQS. It's rated at a useable 70.2 kWh, and operating at 920 V allows a lower overall current, which in turn allowed for thinner wiring, which saves even more weight. And yes, it even fast-charges, taking about 30 minutes to go from 10-80 percent.
Enlarge/ I'm told you'd never sand-cast such a large piece for a production car. But it made sense for this one-off.
Jonathan Gitlin
And despite its relatively compact size, it's not that light, with an unladen weight of 3,869 lbs (1,755 kg). But that does include an entirely functional interior with air conditioning and a heater and that big 8k screen. You can tell weight has been saved in the trim, but it's with an eye to saving weight on future products. The main giveaway that this is a working prototype and not a preproduction version of something in next year's showroom is the big red emergency stop button set into the roof, where you might expect to find the rear view mirror.
Plastic trim is latticed here and there, and instead of door handles there are fabric pulls, like a race car or stripped out Porsche. The cactus fiber fabric used to trim the seats and the plush bamboo rugs in the footwell sell the interior as a luxury car that deserves to wear the three-pointed star, but with an emphasis on recycled, sustainable, and cruelty free products instead of the wood and leather of the olden days.
Running an 8k screen all the time is a good way to waste energy, so this one uses local dimming and can even go into a Saab-like mode, where the whole thing goes black other than the critical information presented to the driver. That's represented as your speed in the center of a dark ball or dot.
You might recognize the steering wheel from the EQS sedan. The 44-inch display is all-new, and is a single display, not multiple screens under glass.
Mercedes-Benz
The big red emergency stop button on the roof is the main clue that you're in a prototype and not something production-ready.
Jonathan Gitlin
Despite what you might think, the UI is actually not distracting for the driver—the animations are all for the benefit of the person in the right seat.
Mercedes-Benz
The Vision EQXX monitors its efficiency in real-time. You can see the drag coefficient is increased here because the active vent for the climate control is open.
Mercedes-Benz
The Vision EQXX's onboard brain is constantly monitoring your efficiency, and relays that information to you as a nice calm blue glow around that dot. Accelerate too hard, or brake so much that you lose energy to friction, and it glows a nasty red. Everything is rendered in real-time in Unity, and there's also an onboard voice interface that's a further evolution of the one you'll find in the brand's MBUX infotainment system.
Before going for a drive in the Vision EQXX, Mercedes let us drive eMMA, the engineering mule that proved the hardware all worked together. eMMA started as an EQB crossover before losing its original powertrain so its drag coefficient was more like 0.28, and with a much bigger frontal area than the EQXX, obviously. And yet, over the 9.53-mile (15.34-km) test route at Mercedes' Immendingen it still achieved 5 miles/kWh (12.5 kWh/100 km).
Satisfied I wouldn't wreck the silver streamliner, it was time to drive it. Although the shape suggests a high top speed, the Vision EQXX is actually electronically limited to 87 mph (140 km/h). I only gave it full throttle once, at the urging of the Mercedes engineer in the passenger seat despite the fact it would affect my final efficiency figure, if only to see what would happen. And then only to 62 mph (100 km/h)—the test track constantly monitors the speed of every vehicle on its tarmac, and breaking the speed limit is not appreciated.
Enlarge/ Check back in eight years to see how many of these Vision EQXX's ideas are in production.
Mercedes-Benz
The 241-hp (180 kW) electric motor is plenty for a car of this size and shape, even on skinny, low-resistance tires. The motor's stator uses a copper winding technique borrowed from Mercedes' Formula E team, where powertrain efficiency is as important as it is here. The Vision EQXX gets close—overall it's at 95 percent efficiency, compared to 97 percent for the single-seat electric race cars.
Sitting so low, and with that view out over the curved wheel arches, called to mind the silver-painted sports prototypes that have carried Mercedes' badge on them at Le Mans, albeit at a quarter of the speed and none of the noise. The Vision EQXX handled well, at least as far as I was prepared to push it. But driving to conserve momentum has a charm all of its own.
Paddles behind the steering wheel spokes let you vary the amount of regenerative braking that happens when you lift your foot from the throttle pedal. The Vision EQXX also uses brake-by-wire so using the brake pedal would regeneratively brake, blending in the friction brakes as and when necessary.
My data vs the reference drive.
Mercedes-Benz
Here's the same data but with metric units.
Mercedes-Benz
Comparing my data to the reference trace, we can see that it would often have been more efficient to coast than one-pedal driving, even if I did regenerate 1.41 kWh compared to the 0.66 kWh regenerated by Mercedes' driver. On sections where eMMA would coast and lose a few mph, the Vision EQXX would instead pick up a little speed, and the car spent most of its time in no-regen mode during its two long demonstration drives earlier this year.
The glowing ball UI will be familiar if you've driven a Chevy Volt or Bolt, and is a great way to give a driver the feedback they need to drive efficiently. So while I wasn't quite as efficient as the reference drive, I achieved a respectable 7.44 miles/kWh (8.35 kWh/100 km), at an average speed of 29.81 mph (47.97 km/h). (Given a second chance I know that's beatable by coasting more and not accelerating hard that one time, but oh well.)
The Vision EQXX isn't destined for any kind of production, not even a limited run like Volkswagen's XL1 experiment. I see more demonstration drives in its future. I wasn't the only person to suggest a coast-to-coast US drive, or seeing how many laps of the Nürburgring Nordschleife it could do on a full charge—they'd be quite slow laps given that 87 mph top speed. But its real value is in the lessons Mercedes has learned, which it now has to apply to the cars it does want to sell.
"electric" - Google News
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We test an electric Mercedes that can can go 747 miles on a single charge - Ars Technica
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