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Jul 26, 2023

Mercedes

By Umar Shakir, a news writer fond of the electric vehicle lifestyle and things that plug in via USB-C. He spent over 15 years in IT support before joining The Verge. Mercedes-Benz announced its first

By Umar Shakir, a news writer fond of the electric vehicle lifestyle and things that plug in via USB-C. He spent over 15 years in IT support before joining The Verge.

Mercedes-Benz announced its first electric vehicle DC fast charging hubs will launch in the fourth quarter of 2023, with the first station locations coming to Atlanta, Georgia; Chengdu, China; and Mannheim, Germany. The so-called “Mercedes-Benz High-Power Charging Network” will have 2,000 chargers installed worldwide by the end of 2024, the automaker said.

At the beginning of this year, Mercedez-Benz announced it would go halfsies on spending about $1 billion with solar company MN8 Energy to build out a major worldwide charging network for electric vehicle owners. At the time, its plans included the installation of more than 2,500 DC fast chargers provided by ChargePoint at 400 hub locations in North America.

Today, Mercedez-Benz says it plans to offer ridiculously fast 400kW charging at its upcoming stations, although no consumer EV on the market currently has the ability to charge faster than 350kW. The stations will include current regional charging connector standards, including Combined Charging System Combo 1 (CCS1) for the US, CCS 2 for Europe, and GB/T for China.

Mercedez-Benz also plans to include Tesla’s EV connector, which is evolving into North America’s next big standard, cleverly dubbed North American Charging Standard, or NACS. Last month, Mercedes-Benz followed major automakers like Ford, GM, and more to adopt NACS as the standard connector for its future vehicles.

Mercedes-Benz is one of the few legacy automakers attempting to build its own branded charging infrastructure, with plans to build 2,000 charging hub locations with over 10,000 chargers globally.

Like other automakers, it has arrangements with charging network providers, including Electrify America and ChargePoint’s own network, to let customers easily charge their EQS, EQE, and other Mercedes-Benz EVs. And once the automaker gets a hold of Tesla adaptors, Mercedes-Benz customers will get access to 12,000 Tesla Supercharger stations, too.

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