Mercedes-Benz to offer 25¢/kW charging for the July 4th weekend

[On the Road with Ralph]

An interesting DCFC alert to my EV driving friends in the eastern half of the US:

Mercedes-Benz has been rolling out its own charging network; most of them are in the eastern side of the US, and most of those are located at Buc-ee's super travel stops (a few are at shopping malls). In total, it has 28 operating sites with over 300 high quality DC fast chargers.

Here is the deal (and it is a good one): Between Thursday and Monday, July 3rd to 7th, the price per kW will only be 25¢. Now there are a few unicorn sites on other charging networks that offer prices that low (usually in the middle of the night), but for most people this is more than a 50% savings on normal, nonmember rates.

Don't get put off by the Mercedes-Benz part of this; their chargers are solid with good layouts and are basically open to all EVs. If they had a greater presence out west (they have announced a partnership with Starbuck's to do charging in the I-5 corridor from Southern California to Washington state), I would be tempted to take a road trip just to exploit the "electron war."

Which raises two interesting questions: Will the major networks - primarily Tesla and Electrify America - follow suit? And if so, could this become the first "gas war" of the EV era? We need some downward pressure on DCFC charging costs and maybe this could be the start of a new pricing dynamic.

I have provided some location details in the attached map. You can duplicate it in Plugshare by unselecting all the charging networks, then choosing the Mercedes filter.

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[Scorpio3d]

An interesting DCFC alert to my EV driving friends in the eastern half of the US:

Mercedes-Benz has been rolling out its own charging network; most of them are in the eastern side of the US, and most of those are located at Buc-ee's super travel stops (a few are at shopping malls). In total, it has 28 operating sites with over 300 high quality DC fast chargers.

Here is the deal (and it is a good one): Between Thursday and Monday, July 3rd to 7th, the price per kW will only be 25¢. Now there are a few unicorn sites on other charging networks that offer prices that low (usually in the middle of the night), but for most people this is more than a 50% savings on normal, nonmember rates.

Don't get put off by the Mercedes-Benz part of this; their chargers are solid with good layouts and are basically open to all EVs. If they had a greater presence out west (they have announced a partnership with Starbuck's to do charging in the I-5 corridor from Southern California to Washington state), I would be tempted to take a road trip just to exploit the "electron war."

Which raises two interesting questions: Will the major networks - primarily Tesla and Electrify America - follow suit? And if so, could this become the first "gas war" of the EV era? We need some downward pressure on DCFC charging costs and maybe this could be the start of a new pricing dynamic.

I have provided some location details in the attached map. You can duplicate it in Plugshare by unselecting all the charging networks, then choosing the Mercedes filter.

That is good news!!
I have seen them at Buc-ee’s (here in Texas)as well. They areusually located on the other side of the parking lot from the Tesla superchargers(sometimes it’s another network other than Mercedes) I think I usually check the price and it’s a bit more than Tesla so I just use the superchargers!
I completely agree that they generally screw us with DCFC charging rates!!

 

[Whammy Bar]

Tesla gives you reliability, a large number of charges per site, a fair price, and a great footprint across the US. Relying on these other guys is a risk (chargers down, few stalls, bunch of apps needed...) and IMO, they need an incentive to draw people to them.

 

[Charge_Rob]

Tesla gives you reliability, a large number of charges per site, a fair price, and a great footprint across the US. Relying on these other guys is a risk (chargers down, few stalls, bunch of apps needed...) and IMO, they need an incentive to draw people to them.

I'll choose these over Tesla all day, every day, regardless of price. They're actually often in the same parking lot (at their Buc-ee's locations).

And just like Tesla, they're in BlueOval Charge Network, so no extra apps or accounts needed. Just use FordPass.

 

[Charge_Rob]

An interesting DCFC alert to my EV driving friends in the eastern half of the US:

Mercedes-Benz has been rolling out its own charging network; most of them are in the eastern side of the US, and most of those are located at Buc-ee's super travel stops (a few are at shopping malls). In total, it has 28 operating sites with over 300 high quality DC fast chargers.

Here is the deal (and it is a good one): Between Thursday and Monday, July 3rd to 7th, the price per kW will only be 25¢. Now there are a few unicorn sites on other charging networks that offer prices that low (usually in the middle of the night), but for most people this is more than a 50% savings on normal, nonmember rates.

Don't get put off by the Mercedes-Benz part of this; their chargers are solid with good layouts and are basically open to all EVs. If they had a greater presence out west (they have announced a partnership with Starbuck's to do charging in the I-5 corridor from Southern California to Washington state), I would be tempted to take a road trip just to exploit the "electron war."

Which raises two interesting questions: Will the major networks - primarily Tesla and Electrify America - follow suit? And if so, could this become the first "gas war" of the EV era? We need some downward pressure on DCFC charging costs and maybe this could be the start of a new pricing dynamic.

I have provided some location details in the attached map. You can duplicate it in Plugshare by unselecting all the charging networks, then choosing the Mercedes filter.

I love using them, they've got some great hardware and site locations. Plus, they're in BlueOval Charge Network, so no extra apps, accounts, or fuss needed. Just use FordPass.

Electrify America used to do completely free travel weekends where they disabled payment altogether across their network. Those days are probably over, but as the fast charging industry is slowly marching towards one day turning a profit (most are not today), wouldn't surprise me to see more competitive offers like this.

 

[On the Road with Ralph]

Tesla gives you reliability, a large number of charges per site, a fair price, and a great footprint across the US. Relying on these other guys is a risk (chargers down, few stalls, bunch of apps needed...) and IMO, they need an incentive to draw people to them.

I am a frequent user of Tesla's network (I reported here on a 1700+ mile trip in May made entirely on Tesla chargers), but I think the comparison to what M-B is doing is both irrelevant and unnecessarily harsh. Tesla has had Superchargers deployed for over a decade; M-B has recently started. Tesla began as a proprietary network and its stations carry that scar tissue with their problematic dispenser layouts, short cable lengths and lack of screens at the vast majority of their locations. Critically, if you are a non-Tesla driver, there is no way to use a credit card to start a charge, but it is the primary way to interact with the M-B chargers.

I also find your other criticisms of M-B off-target. Their chargers - especially the Alphatronics - are solid, reliable and much faster than Tesla's (tho' the Lightning can't make use of their 300+ kW delivery), there is no app needed to use M-B sites, and they put a minimum of 8-10 dispensers at every location, and at some, more.

Yes, Tesla's overall network is best, but there are some very intriguing new players, and M-B is one of them. I can't wait to see their partnership with Starbucks get realized out here on the West Coast; I'd probably make a trip up to Oregon and Washington to take advantage of it. And I am not going to complain about anyone offering 25¢ electrons, whatever their motivations.

 

[chl]

M-B for all the above reasons and: Not adding to Musk's wealth: Priceless!

 

[Heliian]

Tesla gives you reliability, a large number of charges per site, a fair price, and a great footprint across the US. Relying on these other guys is a risk (chargers down, few stalls, bunch of apps needed...) and IMO, they need an incentive to draw people to them.

At least the cord is long enough.

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