Mercedes-Benz Offering EQS Customers 2 Years of Free Charging From Electrify America

author: FutureCar Staff    

Mercedes Me Charge will be the official charging ecosystem for the upcoming EQS and other future electric vehicles from Mercedes Benz.

The upcoming EQS sedan from Mercedes Benz will be its all-electric flagship, competing with the Tesla Model S, Porsche Taycan and Lucid Air sedan. As the automaker prepares to launch the electric EQS this fall, its setting up a charging ecosystem with industry partners ChargePoint and Electrify America to make it more convenient for drivers to charge their vehicles.

For the upcoming EQS, the automaker announced it will come with complimentary charging from Electrify America. EQS drivers will receive complimentary 30-minute charging sessions for the first two years after account activation.

In April, Electrify America announced the opening of its 600th U.S. charging site. The company previously completed two cross-country and two coastal routes in 2020, providing EV drivers with more options for cross-country travel in the U.S.

Electrify America plans to construct the largest DC fast charging network in the U.S., eventually exceeding the size of Telsa's Supercharger network. It's first U.S. charging station opened on May 2, 2018 in Chicopee, Massachusetts.  

Electrify America was born out of the Volkswagen dieselgate scandal of 2015, which resulted in the automaker buying back hundreds of thousands of highly polluting diesel-powered vehicles and paying billions in fines.

As part of its restitution for falsifying emissions in its diesel-powered vehicles, Volkswagen formed Electrify America to build a coast-to-coast EV charging network in the U.S. to promote the adoption of zero emissions electric vehicles. The lack of convenient EV charging is one of the reasons why some drivers are hesitant to switch to an electric car.

Electrify America is focused on building a "future proof" EV charging network consisting almost exclusively of newer ultra-fast chargers, which is set to become the industry standard. Many new EV models are capable of reaching an 80% charge in under 30 minutes using a DC fast charger. 

Mercede Benz also announced that "Mercedes Me Charge'' will be the official charging ecosystem for the EQS and other future electric vehicles from Mercedes Benz. It will help customers locate and pay for charging sessions.

The automaker's Mercedes Me Charge network is one of the world's largest EV charging networks and is continuously expanding, according to Mercede Benz. It includes roughly 500,000 AC and DC charging points worldwide. 200,000 of these chargers are in Europe.

Mercedes Me Charge includes a new integrated payment function called "Plug & Charge" with automatic payments. It's designed to simplify paying for charging sessions on all major networks in North America. It makes it even easier for EQS drivers to charge their vehicles at public charging stations.

Once a customer sets up their preferred payment method, the charging session begins as soon as the charging cable is plugged in. No further authentication is required. Once signed up, a customer can access almost all charging stations in North America operated by different companies. 

Once an EQS driver creates their Mercedes Me account and activates the Mercedes me Charge service, they automatically gain access to the entire charging network without having to set up an account with each individual charging site operator or needing a RFID card to activate a session.

The Plug & Charge function is managed by Mercedes Benz's charging partner ChargePoint. The EQS and the charging stations in the network communicate directly via the charging cable. 

Founded in 2007, ChargePoint is one of the oldest EV charging operators in the U.S. The company's network has expanded to include 114,000 charging stations. 

The MBUX head unit and Mercedes Me vehicle app will handle trip-planning, locating stations and initiating payment for all charging sessions for the EQS and future electric models, Mercedes said.

The upcoming EQS which was revealed in April, is a futuristic electric sedan that's an electric alternative to the company's S-Class models. Mercedes calls the EQS a "sibling" of the S-Class sedan.

The EQS also marks the automaker's entry into the electric vehicle segment that's currently dominated by Tesla. Mercedes said its EQS is the world's first "luxury class" electric sedan. It's the first electric vehicle built on a new, dedicated platform.

FutureCar Staff