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[Richard230]

According to an article of that title published by the AP in my newspaper today, Mercedes Benz says it will build its own worldwide EV charging network starting in North America this year at a total cost of 1 billion Euros in order to compete with Tesla. When completed in six or seven years, the network will have 400 charging stations with more than 2,500 high-power plugs. When the entire system is built-out it will have more than 2,000 charging stations and over 10,000 plugs, worldwide. The Mercedes-branded network will be open to owners of all electric vehicles, but Mercedes owners will be able to reserve charging ports and get preference over other makes.

Each Mercedes station will have four to 12 ports with up to 350 kWh of charging power. Mercedes will share the cost of the NA network equally with MNS Energy. EV charging network provider ChargePoint is also a partner.

[Fran K]

I found the article at the New York Times with an author's name.  I did not notice AP.

So it is going to be like some haircut chain, walk in customers are welcome but if you walk in and sit down someone else that has the ap on their phone walks in they go first.  With gasoline and diesel it is pretty much the same price cash or charge maybe 5 cents different and maybe well financed folks can get a couple of percent cash back on their card.  I sense the electric charging is going to be at a whole different level.

[ADVENTURESonZERO]

This is why regulation and standardization needs to be enacted. All of these providers are taking their own direction and it’s not actually building out a good infrastructure. Imagine having a Toyota that can only charge at Citgo stations. I think Tesla got away with it because they were the first to reach the mass market, but now that everyone is seemingly trying to model Telsa, it’s not moving the industry forward. I think it’s a wise move to open the supercharger networks up to CCS, and hope that Tesla brings that feature here to the US soon - it would dramatically open my riding options up to areas I’ve not been.

And then pricing, EA and EVgo rates are wildly different - one charges per kW while the other per minute - it’s nuts and is terrible for smaller kW batteries like motorcycles.

[Richard230]

This is why regulation and standardization needs to be enacted. All of these providers are taking their own direction and it’s not actually building out a good infrastructure. Imagine having a Toyota that can only charge at Citgo stations. I think Tesla got away with it because they were the first to reach the mass market, but now that everyone is seemingly trying to model Telsa, it’s not moving the industry forward. I think it’s a wise move to open the supercharger networks up to CCS, and hope that Tesla brings that feature here to the US soon - it would dramatically open my riding options up to areas I’ve not been.

And then pricing, EA and EVgo rates are wildly different - one charges per kW while the other per minute - it’s nuts and is terrible for smaller kW batteries like motorcycles.

+1. And it doesn't help when you have to join a charging company to use one of their stations. I never understood why you can not just drive up, connect your vehicle to a standardized charging cable, insert your credit card and start charging. Why do you have to go through all of the hoops that is required for each company that owns a charging facility so that you can use one? To me it just doesn't make any sense.  You don't have to do that when filling up your ICE with gas. You just drive into the station and do it. In some cases you might need to have joined the company's "rewards" program to get a discount, but anyone can still buy gas at the station. This system has worked well for gasoline stations for over the past 100 years, why did the charging station companies have to reinvent the wheel? 

[Sklith]

It's not just the charging company's fault with setting rates. Many states don't allow them to set pricing by kWh.