Mercedes-Benz wants to set up its own charging network for electric cars. More than 10,000 fast charging points are planned at 2,000 locations in North America, China and Europe, the Stuttgart announced on Thursday evening. The first charging parks in North America are to be built in the course of the year. They should not only be usable by Mercedes drivers, but should be open to all brands.
“We don’t want to watch and wait until it’s built, so we’re building a global fast charging network ourselves,” said Mercedes boss Ola Källenius (53). The company wants to spend a single-digit billion amount for this. The goal is to set up the entire network by the end of the decade.
Investments of over one billion euros are planned for North America alone, around half of which will be taken on by the local partner MN8 Energy, one of the largest owners and operators of solar energy and battery storage systems in the United States United States. ChargePoint, a leader in EV charging network technology, will also be involved in the build, the release said.
In the US and Canada around 400 charging parks with 2500 plugs are to be built by 2027. Mercedes customers should have preferential access to the charging points with a charging capacity of up to 350 kilowatts, for example through a reservation function. The batteries could be charged in less than half an hour, it said.
Partner search and talks in Europe and China
Källenius said that talks are also being held with potential partners for Europe and China. Exactly when will construction begin there and how many charging points in Germany should arise, said the carmaker not. By 2030, Mercedes-Benz wants to be able to only sell fully electric cars wherever market conditions allow.
Other car companies are also working on the charging infrastructure. The US electric car company Tesla According to its own statements, it already operates around 40,000 fast charging points worldwide. Of the VolkswagenThe group wants to set up a good 45,000 high-performance charging points with partners by 2025. Mercedes-Benz and other car manufacturers have also joined forces for charging services such as Ionity or Chargenow.