Once Ford announced that it had worked out a deal to give its electric vehicles access to Tesla’s Supercharger network, it felt like it was only a matter of time before all the other automakers announced the same thing. And since then, we’ve seen announcement after announcement as more automakers join the Tesla charging party. This time around, it’s Mercedes-Benz.
Today, Mercedes-Benz announced that just like Ford, General Motors, Rivian, Volvo, and Polestar, it will add a North American Charging Standard charging port to its electric vehicles starting in 2025. And just like those other automakers, Mercedes-Benz’s EVs will get access to Tesla’s Supercharging network starting in 2024.
In the announcement, Mercedes called the move “a customer-focused approach to scale electric vehicles based on a superior product experience.” Basically, “All the other charging networks in the U.S. suck, but Tesla’s doesn’t, so we’ve got to join if we want people to buy our EVs.” With no other good options out there, it makes sense.
But Mercedes doesn’t plan to depend solely on Tesla’s Superchargers. It also announced plans to build its own charging network that will include at least 2,500 chargers at more than 400 locations across the country. It will be called the North American High-Power Charging Network or NAHPCN, which we can only assume you’re supposed to pronounce like “napkin.” Even if Mercedes didn’t plan for it to be called that, they can’t stop us now.
According to Mercedes, the first NAHPCN chargers will be available toward the end of 2023 and will offer both CCS and NACS plugs. But it won’t finish building all 2,500 chargers until the end of the decade. And you won’t have to own a Mercedes to use them. They’ll be open to any electric vehicle.