Mercedes-Benz is gearing up to launch the all-new fully electric EQS sedan slated for its world premiere on 15th April 2021 followed by the market launch in August. The brand has revealed key details of the charging infrastructure for the EQ line of electric vehicles under the Mercedes ME Charge initiative.
Charging Convenience Using ‘Plug & Charge’
Mercedes-Benz is bringing the Plug & Charge convenience through the Mercedes me Charge function which does not require any authentication at a public charging station. As soon the vehicle plugs into a charging station the charging starts automatically and it is as simple as charging a smartphone. The vehicle and the charging station communicate directly through the charging cable for authentication and through an integrated payment system and deducts the payment from the customer’s account. The customer only needs to authenticate the preferred payment method only once. A record of all the charging payments debited from the account is available in a monthly invoice. The compatible charging station is available on the navigation map of the EQS and in the Mercedes me App.
Sustainable Charging
An electric vehicle is truly green and eco friendly only when it is charging from stations that source electricity from renewable resources. After charging an EQ vehicle Mercedes-Benz ensures that a commensurate amount of electricity from renewable sources of energy is fed back into the grid to compensate for the amount of charge used by the electric vehicle. In the EU, the current energy mix is about 50 % of the CO2 footprint, which means 50% of the CO2 generated in the lifecycle of the electric vehicle is through the charging process. The brand, therefore, facilitates green charging at all of the 200,000-plus public charging points in Europe. The Green Charging stations will also make its way to customers in North America by the end of the year.
Mercedes me Charge Network
The Mercedes me Charge network is one of the world’s largest charging interface with over 500,000 AC and DC charging points worldwide out of which 200,000 are in Europe and Mercedes me Charge customers are able to access charging points from over 400 different operators of public charging stations. In Japan, the Mercedes-Benz EQS will be capable of bidirectional charging such as V2G (Vehicle-to-Grid) and V2H (Vehicle-to-Home), meaning the car could be used as a power bank for energy that comes from the home photovoltaic system and also supply the stored energy back to the house in the event of a failure in the public energy grid using the High-Performance Battery Systems.
High-Performance Battery Systems
The batteries for the Mercedes-Benz EQS will be manufactured at the Stuttgart-Hedelfingen plant in Germany and marks the beginning of a new generation of high-performance electric vehicles which offer a range of up to 700 km on a single charge based on the WLTP cycle. The long-range is a result of a high-efficiency powertrain as well as an advanced 108 kWh high-density battery technology. The EQS will come with different battery sizes depending on the variant the performance and range will differ.
