Mercedes-Benz’s 400kW EV chargers are coming to Starbucks

Mercedes-Benz and Starbucks are teaming up to instal accelerated electrical conveyance chargers astatine 100 coffee-slinging locations connected Interstate 5, which runs on the West Coast from Canada to Mexico.

The caller stations volition beryllium portion of the German automaker’s $1 cardinal program to physique 2,000 caller EV charging hubs crossed the globe. Its archetypal station, implicit with a swanky waiting country and 400kW charging speeds courtesy of ChargePoint, opened successful Atlanta past year.

Now it looks similar Mercedes is acceptable to embark connected the adjacent signifier of its installations, with a superior absorption connected Starbucks locations on I-5. The 2 companies said successful the announcement that they “share an ambition to place further opportunities successful cardinal markets, including halfway municipality areas, charging deserts, and different captious question corridors.”

Starbucks isn’t contributing to the costs of installation, conscionable providing the abstraction successful its parking tons for the charging stalls and different equipment. And importantly, Mercedes isn’t shouldering the full outgo of the $1 cardinal task itself; 50 percent volition beryllium covered by MN8 Energy, an offshoot of Goldman Sachs Asset Management focused connected star powerfulness and vigor storage.

The announcement comes astatine a clip erstwhile astir automakers are reconsidering immoderate of their large EV plans successful airy of slower maturation than initially expected. Mercedes said it would proceed to merchantability gas-powered vehicles aft 2030, aft primitively stating it would lone merchantability EVs.

One of the main challenges to opening caller charging stations is uncovering a consenting existent property spouse who tin marque country for each the needed instrumentality to alteration DC fasting charging. In summation to plugs and charging stalls, astir DC accelerated chargers besides necessitate abstraction for different electronics, similar transformers and load centers, which are stored on-site successful weather-proof metallic cabinets. Some of it tin beryllium ample and cumbersome, and the charging supplier needs plentifulness of abstraction to marque it feasible.

Charging an EV is overmuch antithetic from refueling a state car. Whereas it tin instrumentality little than 5 minutes to refill a state tank, it tin instrumentality up to an hr to recharge an EV battery, depending connected the vigor output of the charger and the size of the EV battery. 

That’s wherefore Mercedes is siting its chargers astatine Starbucks. It’s a tacit acknowledgment that EV owners would alternatively person a latte and unbend successful a java store than beryllium successful their cars portion they hold for their batteries to replenish.

Other automakers person had akin ideas. Volkswagen, which owns the EV charging institution Electrify America, installs galore of its chargers successful large container store parking lots, similar Walmart and Target. And successful 2018, Tesla submitted plans to physique a monolithic 62-stall Supercharger presumption successful Santa Monica that features a edifice and movie theater. (As of 2024, the tract has yet to interruption ground.)

Mercedes isn’t the lone automaker to question retired Starbucks arsenic an EV charging partner. In 2022, the java elephantine teamed up with Volvo to denote the installation of 15 stations on highways that link Seattle and Denver.