Mercedes launches branded ‘Juice Booster’
Mercedes-Benz has unveiled its new ‘Flexible Charging System’ designed to enable charging at various outlets and sockets using adapters. However, this Juice Booster comes from the Swiss company Juice Technology, now with Mercedes labelling.
Mercedes, upon launch, states that it has created a “charging solution for anyone who does a lot of driving in an electric vehicle and therefore needs variable options for charging it.” The flexible charging system itself has a fixed Type 2 connector to connect to the vehicle. On the infrastructure side, various adapters can be attached to charge at household sockets, industrial sockets, and public charging points and wall boxes.
Some adapters are already included with the flexible charging system, while other adapters, for foreign countries, for example, can be purchased as accessories at a later date. There is also a five-meter extension cable that, like the adapters, can be connected using the same plug-and-play principle. Depending on the adapter and infrastructure, the flexible charging system allows AC charging with up to 22 kW, Mercedes says.
The charging power and the description of the adapter principle, and the photos suggest that the charger is a Juice Booster from Juice Technology, so the wording that Mercedes-Benz has created the flexible charging system is somewhat misleading.
Mercedes offers the flexible charging system for 1,225 euros. On the Internet, the Juice Booster without Mercedes branding is already available for less than 1,000 euros, but the scope of the included adapters may differ here. In addition to the extension cable, there is also a wall mount as an accessory, with which the flexible charging system can be used as a wall box. Mercedes also claims it has given thought to the various types of sockets found in other countries and, in addition to the Schuko plug that is the most widely used in Europe, the necessary plugs for Switzerland and the UK are also available separately.
Both the Juicebooster and the flexible charging system are classified as mobile chargers, affecting funding in some countries. As reported, Juice Technology also offers stationary solutions which are permanently mounted.
For Juice Technology, this is not the first deal with a German OEM: The Swiss company also supplies the Juice Booster to Opel, also known as Vauxhall in the UK as reported. In addition to the standard charging cables, Opel markets the solution as a “Universal Charger” for BEV and PHEV models. However, Opel only charges 720 euros for the charging solution, with adapters for the household socket, AC charging stations with Type 2 connection, and CEE16 industrial sockets.
The company also set up the subsidiary Juice Americas Inc. with headquarters in Delaware this May to serve the US market from there. Juice Technology also founded a subsidiary in Hangzhou, China, recently. The Zhejiang Juice Technology Co., Ltd. is to promote business in Asia further.
Including reporting by Sebastian Schaal, Germany.
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