Gobsmacking claims for new EV SUV

Well, someone had to do it and in the case of battery electric vehicles, it’s Mullen Technologies.

Never heard of them? You’re not alone. But if – and it’s a big if – its claims can be believed then it’s got EV tech licked.

In a nutshell, Mullen is claiming it will have a Tesla Model Y-sized SUV in the market in 2022 with a 640 mile (1030km) cruising range and a 150kWh solid state polymer battery.

Those are pretty astonishing achievements considering Tesla has just topped 400 miles (640km), we’re hailing Lucid for 500km and Toyota says it’s still five years from rolling out solid state batteries.

And just to make sure it cocks a snook at as many auto brands as possible, Mullen has badged its new SUV the MX-05. Wonder if Mazda might be concerned about how close that is to its longstanding name for the MX-5 roadster.

OK, so we’re a bit sceptical, but let’s go back to basics and find out the Mullen Technologies back story.

It is based in California and run by CEO of world operations David Michery (yes that’s his title). He established the business after taking over its predecessor Mullen Motors – a would-be EV sports car market – in 2012.

Related businesses include a chain of used car dealerships in California, a digital car-sales assistant called CarHub, a technology developer and a captive finance arm.

It bought the last remaining examples of the Coda electric sedan made before the company went bankrupt in 2013 and sold them as the Mullen 700e.

In 2019 a joint-venture with China’s Qiantu Motors to bring an electric sports car called the Dragonfly K50 to the USA was announced, with a starting price around US$125,000 AU$175,000).

In June 2020 Mullen joined the EV reverse merger mania and then announced it had acquired US$135 million(AU$188 million) to fit out an assembly plant.

It followed that up by rolling out a few details about the MX-05.

Those details mainly centred around the battery, which is being supplied by the Chinese engineering firm Linghang BOAO.

The claims for driving range have not been verified as EPA, WLTP or NEDC as yet.

There are some inconsistencies. On the home page of its website, Mullen says the MX-05 has a 100kWh battery and a 300 mile (480km) range. It also claims a 2.9 sec 0-60mph (96.5km/h) time, a top speed of 135mph (217km/h) and the capability of providing 150 miles (241km) of charge in 30 minutes.

Mullen says testing showed the battery suffered no degradation in extreme temperatures ranging from -40 degrees Celsius to 60 degrees Celsius. The battery pack also suffered less than two percent degradation over 10,000 charge/discharge cycles.

“We believe our licensed solid-state battery technology should provide us with an advantage over many other companies in the EV space as it could have the ability to provide vehicle owners with significantly increased range from a single charge,” said Michery.

“We believe the launch of our MX-05 will change the way that owners think about EVs and their capabilities.”