Information: Mercedes-Benz To Construct Charging Community
Follows Tesla Lead as New Fashions Proliferate
Mercedes-Benz father or mother firm, Daimler AG, as soon as purchased an fairness stake within the EV start-up Tesla across the time the corporate was simply beginning to produce its first automobile, the Roadster. Mercedes bought its share not too lengthy after, simply after Tesla’s first full automobile, the Mannequin S, hit the market and lengthy earlier than Tesla turn into acknowledged because the world-leading EV producer it’s now referred to as.
However they have been there to expertise a key issue that helped lock within the preliminary recognition of the Tesla—a quick charging community unique to the automobile with chargers free and positioned in cities with many Teslas and alongside the important thing routes between them, comparable to LA to SF.
Now Mercedes is spending nearly all of its $43 billion electrification push to launch its personal line of electrical fashions. 4 are available on the market now—the big EQS sedan, midsize EQE sedan, giant EQS SUV and compact EQB SUV. Extra are coming—not less than two this yr as they march ahead electrifying the whole fleet. At this important juncture, tearing a web page from the Tesla playbook, Mercedes has determined to launch its personal proprietary community of quick chargers.
The Similar Thought—However Totally different
Whereas the brand new Mercedes $1.05 billion North American charging community is a transparent emulation of Tesla’s Supercharging system, it additionally has some distinct variations. As a result of Mercedes’ EQ fashions don’t have a proprietary charging plug like Tesla, they will simply cost at non-Mercedes chargers like these from Electrify America or EVgo. For a similar cause, non-Mercedes EVs, together with Teslas with adapters, will be capable to use the Mercedes community.
That sounds just like the exclusivity that helped construct Tesla’s status and is certainly a part of the Mercedes mystique, could also be a bit tougher to outline in terms of charging. When constructed out in 2027, the U.S. community may have 400 stations on highways, main intersections and huge cities with greater than 2,500 high-power plugs. The charging stations will embrace meals shops and restrooms close by together with security tools to offer safety.
To offer Mercedes’ drivers some exclusivity, they would be the capable of reserve a charging spot. All stations will having photovoltaic roof methods, draw on “inexperienced” electrical energy and have as much as 30 350-kilowatt chargers. The chargers ought to be capable to add 30 miles of vary per minute. Mercedes additionally plans to roll out websites in North America, Europe and China concurrently. The community will probably be constructed by companions ChargePoint and photo voltaic power firm MN8.
“We’re progressing. Now we have moved extraordinarily quick, lightning quick, in a few months to get this all carried out and sealed and all of the contracts in place,” Mercedes’ head of analysis and growth Markus Schäfer advised the CES viewers. “The plan is to open the primary websites this yr.”
Different Mercedes CES Information
That wasn’t the one nod to Tesla in Mercedes-Benz’ CES bulletins. The corporate introduced a brand new Computerized Lane Change characteristic as a part of its adaptive cruise management system. Tesla has had an analogous model of that characteristic as a part of its Autopilot cruise management system since 2019.
Mercedes additionally mentioned it has been licensed for Degree 3 autonomous driving in Nevada and it expects approval in California quickly. In Degree 3 autonomous driving the automobile handles most of driving elements, however the driver is accountable for taking management always. Not like Degree 2 (which is what many adaptive cruise management methods supply), the motive force can take his or her arms off the wheel. Tesla has promoted its Full Self Driving bundle for a while, though it has but to be totally activated or accredited by state authorities.
Lastly, Mercedes-Benz introduced some eye sweet to the CES flooring with its EQXX idea automobile. Billed as essentially the most environment friendly automobile Mercedes has ever constructed, it has travelled greater than 745 miles on a single cost (It’s nominal vary is 620 miles), consuming 8.3 kilowatt-hours per 100 kilometers (or 7.5 miles per kilowatt-hour). The drag coefficient of the light-weight automobile is a dramatic 0.17. The Mercedes Method 1 workforce lent its experience to the multidisciplinary workforce that developed the EQXX.
