Monday, December 2, 2024–11:55 a.m.
-David Crowder, WRGA News-
Motorists can now charge up their electric vehicles while shopping at Buc-ees in Calhoun.
Mercedes-Benz High-Power Charging has just opened a new charging station at the popular road trip destination at 601 Union Grove Road. The station is equipped with 10 CCS-compatible charging ports fit with Mercedes’ first Alpitronic 400 kW chargers in the US for maximum speed. Alpitronic is a European Company, but they are manufacturing the hardware in the United States.
According to Heiko Schmidt, Vice-President of Network Strategy with Mercedes-Benz High-Power Charging, charging is an essential part of owning an electric vehicle, and the company, which is a new entity within the Mercedes family, is dedicated to rolling out a charging network to take the inconvenience out of charging vehicles in public.
“The site in Calhoun is the first location we’re building with our new hardware, so it is a new generation of chargers,” he said. “They are all 400 kW chargers, which are the fastest in the industry. This will allow consumers to charge their car up very quickly and be on their way again.”
The charging ports are not only compatible with Mercedes electric vehicles, but other makes of EVs as well.
“We have the CCS1 standard,” Schmidt said. “That is essentially the plug that every electric vehicle in the United States, outside of Tesla, uses to charge in public. Vehicles are equipped with it. Chargers are equipped with it. That ensures that there is compatibility. Customers who are driving electric vehicles, again outside of Tesla, do not have to use any form of adaptor. They can all charge at our site or any other charging site.”
For now, Tesla drivers can use an adaptor, but Schmidt said Mercedes does have plans to roll out new cables at all of its charging stations. They will be equipped with both CCS1 and the standard used by Tesla vehicles, so all cars will be able to charge without an adaptor.
According to Schmidt, Mercedes puts a lot of effort into the operation and maintenance of their sites. The op time so far at their existing 14 sites is over 99.5 percent, which is a benchmark in the industry.
“This site [Calhoun] will not be an exception,” he added. “Meaning customers can rely on charging at the site, and when they do they are receiving benchmark charging speed. Our chargers are equipped to handle the fastest charging speeds possible. If a vehicle can take that amount of speed, typically we are talking about charging times for 10 to 80 percent of the battery within 15 to 20 minutes.”
The partnership with Buc-ees will continue across the U.S.
“We are building at essentially all their travel centers,” he said. “Not just on the Southeast, but Buc-ees will also be expanding westward and a little bit to the north, and we are following them along. Overall, we will build at 55 or so Buc-ees travel center locations, which we are really excited about.”
Schmidt added that Mercedes will continue to build EV charging stations through an agreement with Simon Malls and has just announced a collaboration with Starbucks. Mercedes will build charging stations at Starbucks locations along the I-5 corridor in California, where there is a lot of demand. There are plans to expand nationwide. By the end of 2027, Mercedes plans to have 2,500 charging ports across the U.S.
