Mercedes to leverage F1 team's expertise to improve EV aerodynamics

How the world has changed - 10 years ago Tesla was dismissed as a rich boy’s toy, it was laughed at by Toyota and Mercedes saw it only as a powertrain supplier for its electric B-Class hatchback. Now Mercedes admits that Tesla is far ahead in the efficiency game and it’ll need its F1 team engineers to keep up with the US automaker.

Mercedes is taking drastic steps to keep up with the growing competition, the company is fully aware of the Chinese automakers growing in strength and offering ever-improving electric cars. The company believes it has a great tool that no other manufacturer has access to - its Formula One team.

While the current electric vehicles from Mercedes are great, they just cannot compare in efficiency to the Tesla lineup. Mercedes EQE or EQS need a serious advantage in battery capacity to match the Model S or Model X range. Tesla Model 3 and Model Y outperform EQB both in performance and range simply because their powertrains are far more efficient.

Mercedes wants to build on its experience gained during the development of the highly-efficient EQXX. The vehicle took just 18 months from the design to a ready product and the company credits this speed to the F1 engineers involved in the project. Now Mercedes wants the F1 team to be part of the development of every new electric car.

The all-new EV platform from Mercedes will be unveiled next year and the first vehicle to be based on it will be very efficient. The company claims it will be very aerodynamic and it will use some parts from the powertrain developed for the EQXX.

Mercedes believes that in current times, EV development has to be much faster. The technology evolves really quickly and the legacy vehicle update times are way too long. To stay on top of the game, a 4 or 5-year cycle between updates is not acceptable.

The EQXX showed the world that the future is in smaller batteries and more efficient powertrains. Mercedes has a good point arguing that throwing a huge battery into an EV hardly solves any problems - it only increases the range. But it makes the car heavy, expensive, and even more inefficient which flies in the face of environmental plans.

Smaller batteries coupled with efficient powertrains mean an equal range to current EVs but less weight. A smaller battery means quicker charging times, less weight means less wear and tear on the vehicle parts, less impact on the environment and more fun when driving. It all makes sense and we are all up for it - can the F1 team help Mercedes in bringing this idea to reality?

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