As electrification continues to proliferate in the car and light-truck world, the race is on to see who best can support all of these new full battery-electric vehicles in terms of charging. Just as fuel accrual was the bane of many a motorist in the early days of the horseless carriage, finding a charge when away from home is somewhat adjacent to that struggle today, and manufacturers are responding.
The latest to do so is Mercedes, which recently announced that they are expanding their aptly-named “Mercedes-Benz High-Power Charging” network into Canada, expanding on the 300 stalls already found in the US. The first Canadian market to be receiving a Benz-spec charging station (no, don’t expect leather-wrapped charging handles with contrast-colour stitching) is Metro Vancouver in 2025, while Torontonians will have to wait until ’26 for their chance to charge. They haven’t said exactly where yet, but “Metro” suggests that we won’t be seeing one of these in the city just yet, which follows a trend adopted by Electrify Canada which has yet to install a station in the city.
Power-wise, Mercedes says that their chargers will be able to charge at up to 400 kW, meaning if your car can handle such charge rates (it should be noted that few EVs can as of right now), expect charge times of 20 to 80 per cent in under 20 minutes. Both the CCS and NACS charging types will be available at each station, as we see a manufacturer adopting the new charging standard first started by Tesla.
While electric vehicles from all brands will be able to use the network, owners of Mercedes’ EV models such as the EQS 580 sedan, EQB or manic G 580 truck will get special perks such as the ability to pre-book charging stations (if you feel the need to drop a bit of a facepalm here, we won’t stand in your way. We do applaud Mercedes for taking on Tesla with this move, though, as that is something that brand has done for a while now) as well as the option to simply drive up to a station, plug in, and be in your way. There’s no need to fumble clumsily with an app or credit card, and that’s a boon in sharp Canadian winters.