A big part of that will be maintaining the charging station hardware itself, and that’s something Mercedes plans to take a hands-on role in. “We are the ChargePoint operators. The contribution by ChargePoint is the hardware — it’s basically their charger,” Schäfer explains. “It’s not ChargePoint for the maintenance. That’s all MN8 [Energy] and us. So, of course ChargePoint has spare parts, and you organize, you know, spare parts nearby. So we’re going to have a logistics concept. And the goal is having the best uptime possible, really the benchmark uptime of the equipment.”
Though aesthetically unique, using in-house designers, Schäfer says, the chargers themselves are a familiar beast inside. Initially they’ll support up to 350 kilowatt (kW) rates, matching what alternative networks like Electrify America are offering. That’s fine for Mercedes’ current line-up of EVs, which top out at around 200 kW.
Down the line though, the goal is to upgrade as the cars get more demanding. “So 350 [kW] is taking us into the next years, but the system is on a modular basis,” Schäfer explains. “So when ChargePoint delivers the hardware there’s the capability with that to go beyond 350. So, we could go to 500 kW, if needed, it depends very much if the car can take it. But again, we’re working on that, that our cars can take the higher load, and ultimately reducing charging time. That’s the ultimate goal: to charge much faster.”
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