The Earth’s circumference is 40,075km. Now, why is this relevant to this story on a brand-new Mercedes hypercar concept? The easy answer is that the Mercedes hypercar – the Mercedes Concept AMG GT XX, which was revealed just a few months ago, has actually travelled that distance in just under eight days. This, of course, in addition to shattering the record for the greatest distance travelled by an electric car in 25 hours and 23 other records along the same vein.
In an ultimate test of speed, reliability, and range, Mercedes-AMG tested the Concept AMG GT XX at Italy’s high-speed test track in Nardo to travel the equivalent of the earth’s circumference in eight days in a nod to Jules Verne’s ‘Around the World in Eighty Days’. The team of engineers and drivers put in a brilliant performance with the car clocking 40,075km in 7 days, 13 hours, 24 minutes, and 7 seconds. In the process, it also shattered the record for the greatest distance travelled by an electric car in 24 hours by covering a distance of 5,479km in the span of a single day. Overall, the vehicle drove an average of 5,300km per day, mostly at a constant speed of 300 km/h.
Although capable of significantly higher speeds, the vehicle’s pace was deliberately set by the engineers based on extensive simulations. According to these analyses, 300 km/h offered the optimal balance between track speed and charging stops, delivering the fastest overall time. The relentless program required 3,177 laps of the 12.68-kilometre Nardò circuit.
The Concept AMG GT XX generates a peak output of over 1,360 hp, which is achieved by the three innovative motors integrated into high-performance electric drive units on the front and rear axles. The rear axle has two oil-cooled axial flux motors, which are combined with compact gearboxes and one inverter each in a single housing. The front electric drive acts as a booster motor and is only activated when needed to provide additional power or traction. Axial-flux motors offer enormous advantages over conventional electric motors: they are significantly more powerful while also being lighter and more compact.
The car’s battery cells are intelligently and directly cooled, which regulates the temperature of each of the more than 3,000 cells. This cooling ensures even heat dissipation and supports the high continuous power potential of the energy storage system. This enables the Concept AMG GT XX to charge extremely quickly: the technology platform charges at over 850 kW across a wide range of the charging curve. In just five minutes, it can recharge enough energy for a range of around 400 kilometres (WLTP), equivalent to the distance from Nardò to Naples.
