Mercedes & BMW get green light for fast-charging network in China

BMW and Mercedes first presented the joint charging network in November 2023. In January of this year, the green light was given by Brussels – the European competition authorities had no objections “in view of the limited impact on the European Economic Area.” Just two months later, the establishment of the joint venture, in which Mercedes-Benz Group China and BMW Brilliance Automotive each hold a 50 per cent stake, was announced.

The green light has now been given with the commissioning of the first seven locations. Four of these locations are in the capital Beijing. A further charging park went into operation in Qingdao (Shandong province) and in Nanjing (Jiangsu province). However, there are still no details on the exact size of the charging parks.

It also remains unclear who will supply the charging hardware. The only thing that is clear so far is that these will be liquid-cooled fast-charging stations, each offering one charging point. Each column can provide a charging capacity of up to 600 kW. The voltage range will be 200 to 1,000 V and a maximum of 800 A will be permitted. Each charging cable including the plug should also weigh just 3.15 kg.

The first pictures show that a roof has been considered. Car park bars are also planned. Mercedes-Benz and BMW have previously promised that customers will be able to benefit from a range of exclusive functions such as Plug&Charge and advance reservation of charging points. However, the charging parks are not exclusive to customers of the two car manufacturers. They will be publicly accessible and available to all vehicle brands.

In total, the joint venture plans to build 1,000 charging parks with a total of 7,000 charging points in 100 Chinese cities by the end of 2026. The name Ionchi is made up of ‘Ion’, which stands for electrically charged atom or molecule, and ‘Chi’ for China.

This makes it the third joint venture in which Mercedes-Benz and BMW are involved. Ionity is best known for the European market. There is also Ionna for North America. In July 2023, seven major car manufacturers announced that they would be setting up a joint venture to establish a fast-charging network in North America. In addition to Mercedes-Benz and BMW, these were General Motors, Honda, Hyundai, Kia and Stellantis. In July of this year, Toyota followed as the eighth partner. The construction of the first site in North Carolina was only announced at the beginning of this month. A total of at least 30,000 fast-charging points are planned under Ionna.

In addition to the activities within joint ventures, the Stuttgart-based company is also developing its own charging infrastructure. In January 2023, Mercedes announced its intention to build a network of fast-charging stations in North America, Europe, China and other key markets. The aim is to operate more than 10,000 fast-charging points worldwide by the end of this decade. In China, the first charging hub went into operation in November 2023 as part of the planned global HPC network. The first charging parks in Europe and the USA were connected to the network by Mercedes-Benz in Mannheim and Sandy Springs in the same month. This was followed by the announcement that the company intends to build a fast-charging network with 100 HPC charging points at 25 locations in Japan together with PowerX over the next two years.

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