Mercedes EQXX News

[ray-holan]

Thanks for posting this, Randy. I think we need to be mindful of Aptera alternatives in the marketplace, present and future, even though I’m sure this MB product will be seriously expensive compared to Aptera. The salient points about this concept car are it’s bragging rights of 6 miles/kWh efficiency (Aptera is predicting 10 miles/kWh efficiency) and it’s aero CD of 0.17 (Aptera is 0.13). The Aptera aero figure may change now that we know we’re stuck with the added drag of driver’s side mirror due to outdated regulations here in the U.S. that require mirrors rather than cameras.

[Dr.D]

I like the vegan interior. Makes me hungry just thinking about it…..

[joshua-rosen]

I wonder if they were looking at Aptera when they designed this, the fact that they are going to put solar panels on this concept make me suspect that they have because solar panels add bupkis to this car. Solar panels on a 10 mile/KWh car in Southern California can provide a somewhat useful amount of range but at 6 miles/KWh in Germany they would be pretty useless.

I really hope that Mercedes will bring this car to market, it’s classically beautiful. Chances are tiny that anything like it will see the light of day, concepts never do, but they really should consider making this one a product.

[trollfaced-hudagmail-com]

the gamification encouraging efficient driving was vague, how would it look like? i guess itd show sea level changes of road so driver knows to build momentum on downhills(sometimes people cant tell when their on a slope b/c there isnt landscape reference to show visually that they are on a slope realtive to other slopes or flat surfaces) , maybe steering wheel position will be encouraged by HUD showing how to turn the car as a pathway arrows representing sides of the car. maybe g force meter to know the grip limit for car which is hard to sense for most people in tight suspension car, so u can carry speed without learning grip limits by small grip loss which will make most people fear limits. each of these can be turned off, ex. somone who knows how to maintain momentum around turns will only use sea level and maybe g force gauge.

every time car starts up itd remind driver to maintain momentum with minimum acceleration quickness and braking and steering and braking for brakepad and tire life and effiency.

[joshua-rosen]

The Volt had gamification for efficient driving, Tesla doesn’t. The display needs to show you the instantaneous energy usage, average energy usage, regen recuperation, and also a colored dial indicates your efficiency as green, yellow and red. It does train you to use a light foot and to be careful of your braking. Tesla does have an energy screen that will show you your history, average energy and instantaneous consumption but it’s not useful for realtime driving optimization because it’s a whole screen rather than just a small part of the display. I do want this information on the main display.

[trollfaced-hudagmail-com]

regen doesnt need to be shown, average effiencies dont tell exactly what part of driving behavior needs to be changed and dont account for different travel paths having different minimal energy requirements. brake teacher also not rly helpful b/c how to do it properly is very simple logic. my system is minimal, although i guess you can add things for entertainments sake, that can be turned off and its not very bright or large display compared to essential info like speed limit. maybe speed dial being a number in large font but a physical dial kinda like s2000 RPM gauge showing torque input/regen.

[george-hughes]

The Spark EV, but not the Volt, is capable of displaying regen instantaneously in kw’s … i.e. on hard braking, my car displays 60 kw as the rate of regen. Going down a long hill on the freeway at 65, it will show 3-4 kw of regen for the minute or two it takes to start up the next where, if you’re ‘hypermiling’ you wipe mph off the speedometer while trying to keep kw usage under 25kw on the way up the next.

But I agree, the basic display needs to show on one concise screen, MPH, Range in miles, an in-out meter displaying regen in both +/- realms, an electronic trip odometer that calculates mi/kwh.

Here’s an old video from 2013 and considering there are fewer than 7500 Spark EV’s, there is a good chance you’ve not seen the dash display, which really is well thought out and ‘encourages’ efficiency. https://youtu.be/p6P6Uw2-D28?t=183

The chevy graphics are now ‘dated’ but they are informative and gives you what you need.

On the larger story of efficiency – the MB is supposed to get 6.0 miles/kwh … As a matter of fact, I’ve recorded trips in Spark EV that at the end of 80-90 miles, the mKW was as high as 6.5 … but that was in the summer on secondary roads when I knew I was going to have a long route through the hills and I took care to maximize regen. (Yes, you can regen uphill 🙂

There are times when efficiency wasn’t a concern that at the end of the day my mKW dipped below 3.0. Those are the unusually cold and wet days when I only had a relatively short trip (20-30 miles) and I knew I could crank up the heat to keep my tootsies nice and crispy. In my normal driving the Spark EV gets 4.5-5.2 mKW which would put it in the ballpark of the MB in that context.

• This reply was modified 2 years, 3 months ago by  George Hughes.

[Stuppie]

With conventional side mirrors…… Using less energy than their digital counterparts, says Gordon Wagener, head designer at Mercedes Benz….

[trollfaced-hudagmail-com]

given luxry sport car is mostly driven w/out passenger at least for sportier driving, driver interface and seat can be screwed to middle of car similar to gma t50 or there can be sliding mechanism to slide the stuff to middle and folding down passenger seat. folding mechanism similar to minivan seats, so its done fairly quickly and possibly during a stop light in traffic.

this centralizing drivers sense of balance organ (around the ear) makes its easier to place car in right position on road and gives a more natural connected sense of movement, so car feels like extenstion of driver conciousnes more. this isncludes making center of car rotation when turning, at this location. i suppose it’ll also trigger rerembrace of driving moments more b/c its more similar to moving around by walking.

[john-malcom]

No company has intellectual ownership of the technology to design and build very efficient electric vehicles. It is just physics which has been around since creation. Until recently, no automaker, legacy or startup, had a business interest in developing or exploiting efficiency based on first principles. The success of Tesla energised this recent interest in an attempt to catch up.

Note in this presentation, that many different departments of Daimler participated in the development. Each of those departments brought with them their legacy perspective (Baggage) and a motivation to be recognized as a major contributor to the vehicle. Therefore this car is a compromise vehicle which is its Achilles heel.

Contrast that with Aptera. Clean sheet. One team very focused on a common goal, the MOST efficient transportation in the world. No conflicting hidden agendas. This approach will win every time.

Take a moment to reflect on what Aptera has done with a small team of young engineers and a shoestring budget. The Aptera production vehicle will beat the Daimler experimental vehicle in every measure of efficiency except number of passengers. And Aptera will deliver that performance at a price point that will make Aptera available to everyone who wants to contribute significantly to the welfare of the planet and save a lot of money.

[steven-g-bueche]

This car will never see the light of day. How many super cool looking Mercedes concepts have we seen only to have them fade into memory? The price would be astronomical as well. I also have doubts about the claims of efficiency. Just looking at the front end gives me the feeling of an area pushing loads of air from the center point downward. The rear slant seems a drag maker as well. Unless the rear makes a roll of air like the back of a truck window to help the flow I’m calling BS.

You can make all the claims you want but until it hits the road or track it’s just marketing jargon.

I do like the looks from the windscreen back though.

[trollfaced-hudagmail-com]

what if we replaced seats with something more like mercedes gullwing doors for structral rigidity

or like the prius prime hatch becomes a door, eliminating rear row doors, kinda of like tesla model y 3rd row seats.why not have one door on drivers side, then other side is no door for structral strength effeincy. the barrier between drivers feet pedals and passengers is some thin barrier that is lifted up when door is closed. barrier is there to prevent sleeping passenger feet from getting in the way of driver and pedals.

about the freepiston hydrallic electric drivetrain: the hydrallic tank could replace a transmission or at least much of it and work as regenerative braking without degrading battery life. innas fot c0m slash fallacies. ingo car concept.

headlights:

why not light assembly at driver forehead level ehind windhsield like where subarus eyesight self driving camera stuff is located <time aria-label=”Edited April 19, 2022 12:23 PM” datetime=”2022-04-19T16:23:56.275Z”>(edited)</time>

so the front end dosnt have to have rather vertical surfaced lights covers for proper lighting

for areodynamics and less panel gaps make it simpler

in a small crash front end, drver can go omw with working lights

the lack of vaericla surface could be made up for by a lens i guess <time aria-label=”Edited April 19, 2022 12:24 PM” datetime=”2022-04-19T16:24:48.736Z”>(edited)</time>

is aptera making its main headlight the single big light at front?

[vernon-sinnott]

I’d need to take out a mortgage on that car. $102,000+ is extremely pricey. That luxury is for the rich.

[loveaptera-yokedealbreaker]

Or simply start saving up for some years before you buy it. Loans are silly.