America has a charging problem. It’s pretty common to have to drive several miles off your route, only to find that half the chargers don’t work, and the ones that do are charging much slower than they’re rated to. Now that everyone’s switched to Tesla’s North American Charging Standard, that should definitely make things easier, but we can’t rely on Tesla alone to build chargers. Which is where Mercedes’ new charging network comes in.
According to Mercedes, the goal is to have plenty of room for cars and the option to charge on either side of your vehicle, as well as covered charging where possible and options such as food and bathrooms so you have something to do while you wait for your car to charge. So recently, when I got my hands on a Mercedes-AMG EQE SUV, I decided to risk life and limb, leave the safety of Atlanta proper and venture out into the suburbs to give Mercedes’ first branded charging hub a try.
Despite being located in Sandy Springs, it certainly made a good first impression. It didn’t feel crowded with five cars charging at the same time, although I do wonder how it would do if 20 drivers all showed up at once. And from what I could tell, every single Charge Point charger was still in working order, which isn’t saying much considering they were just installed, but if you’ve had a bad charging experience before, you understand. Getting the car charging was as easy as filling a gasoline car. It just worked.
Since the EQE can only charge at 170 kW, it couldn’t take advantage of the charger’s full capability, but once it got going, I don’t think it ever dropped below 145 kW, which, again, is impressive when the bar for charging is in hell. I’d also arrived with an eight-percent charge, so if it hadn’t worked, I would have been starting my search with the clock ticking. Getting to 80 percent took about 40 minutes, although I stayed a little longer because I wanted to get back up to 200 miles of range before I fled the suburbs for safety. You just can’t trust those OTP-ers, you know?
This location has a lounge area, as well as a separate building for bathrooms. In the lounge, you can buy snacks and drinks, and there are a number of chairs, couches and tables for you to use while you pass the time. The bathrooms were also clean and well-stocked, although that might be because no one ever uses them. I saw plenty of people show up to charge, and every single one of them sat in their cars except to plug and unplug. Maybe they didn’t know there were bathrooms available? Many of them were old, so I assumed at least one of them would need to pee at some point.
If you’re using the Mercedes charge hub like I did to charge your battery most of the way, the best move is probably to skip the lounge and go grab some food at one of the several restaurants that are a short walk away. No margaritas for you until Mercedes figures out true self-driving, but there’s a Mexican place just around the corner that’s pretty good by Georgia’s Mexican food standards. If you’re going to wait for 45 minutes while you scroll on your phone, at least enjoy some chips and queso while you’re doing so.
Unlike a certain other German automaker that’s building its own charging network, the best part of the Mercedes charging experience is that it felt like Mercedes really was trying to give its customers and other EV owners the charging experience they deserve. Everything worked. It was clean. I got in and out without a single hassle. If every charging hub in the U.S. was like this one, the EV ownership experience would be much more enjoyable.
Of course, not every charging hub is going to have a Taqueria La Parilla around the corner. Some will be in Simon Malls, so you can charge while shopping, while others will be built at Buc-ee’s gas stations, where you’ll be forced to settle for a chopped brisket sandwich instead of chips and queso.
Hopefully, Mercedes can get a lot more of these charging hubs built quickly and to the same standard as the one next to its headquarters. After all, if you’re building a charging network, it’s pretty bad marketing for the hub next to your office to be dirty or have chargers that don’t work right, so you’re going to make sure the flagship location is as good as it gets.
Will the same be true of Mercedes chargers at a Buc-ee’s in Texas or even possibly Michigan? That remains to be seen, but based on first impressions, if you can use a Mercedes charging hub, you’re probably going to want to prioritize that one over most of your other options, especially since Superchargers are probably about to get a lot more crowded.