BREAKING THE WIND

With the stunningly low-drag Vision EQXX concept, Mercedes eyes a future in which we slip more effortlessly through the air around us.

- DANIEL PUND

THE AIR HASN'T CHANGED in the 100-plus years since the beginning of the automotive era. Well, okay, it now smells generally less like a typhoid ward or horse manure. But air acts as it always has when you jam an object through it. Ever notice that the vehicles intended to skirt the air's resistance share some fundamental traits? A low, rounded front end. A plunging roofline that leads to a taffy-pulled, tapered rear end that ends abruptly. And, of course, ugly wheels, either on display or covered by spats. That's the work of generations of aerodynamicists toiling over equations and wind-tunnel experimentation. It's work that was gleefully interrupted beginning in the second half of the 20th century. This era, the tail end of which we are in now, is defined by powerful internal-combustion engines fed by cheap fuel available at nearly every street corner. So put away your weird prewar Tatras and streamliners; we're going to drive this damn barn ('58 Imperial, Hummer H2, etc.) defiantly through the air.

Mercedes-Benz, which has produced its own stately but wasteful machines over the years, has a different view of the future. Called the Vision EQXX, it's an electric four-door-sedan concept that employs a radically efficient aerodynamic form. In recognition that the energy of current electric batteries quickly depletes and takes a long time to replenish, there's no room to sacrifice slickness to indulge style. With a highly efficient drivetrain and a light curb weight (for an EV), the EQXX managed a trip from Stuttgart, Germany, to Silverstone, England, fully 747 miles, on a single charge. Its absurdly low 0.17 drag coefficient was critical in making that happen.

We asked longtime Mercedes aerodynamicist Alexander Wäschle to walk us through the EQXX's more notable aero achievements.