Finding a charging station is the nightmare of every electric car owner. So Mercedes-Benz turned to the world's largest coffee chain... yes, Starbucks.
When we're tired, we often want to recharge with a cup of coffee. But did you know? In the future, visiting Starbucks will not only recharge your phone, but also your electric car.
In mid-July 2024, Mercedes-Benz and Starbucks announced a partnership to install electric vehicle fast-charging stations at over 100 Starbucks locations along Interstate 5 in the United States. These stations, emphasizing 100% green energy, are compatible with all electric vehicles and support multiple payment methods. Mercedes-Benz CEO Andrew Cornelia stated that, in the future, range anxiety will be eliminated from the Canadian border all the way south to San Diego.
Mercedes-Benz plans to set up 2,000 charging centers worldwide
Turning hundreds of Starbucks into charging stations is part of the centenarian German automaker's ambitious plan: by 2030, it will invest $1 billion to build 2,000 electric vehicle charging centers and more than 10,000 charging stations around the world. Mercedes-Benz calls it the "Mercedes-Benz High-Power Charging Network."
The sites selected this time are "urban core areas, charging deserts and important transportation corridors."
The collaboration comes as U.S. electric vehicle sales have fallen short of expectations and hit a ceiling. The reasons include a lack of widespread charging stations and a poor charging experience.
Everyone knows that the number of charging stations and electric vehicles presents a chicken-and-egg problem. However, setting up charging stations isn't just a matter of pocket; it also requires finding a real estate partner who can provide space to house the larger equipment, including charging stations, transformers, and load centers.
Furthermore, unlike refueling, which can be done in five minutes, charging an electric car can take up to an hour. Even at Mercedes-Benz and Starbucks charging stations, a 400kW fast charge can take nearly 20 minutes to charge some electric car batteries from 10% to 80% (speed varies depending on hardware, temperature, and other factors).
Do I have to sit in the car while driving for these 20 minutes to an hour?
Charging should be integrated into life elegantly and pleasantly
The convenience and time required for charging are the biggest concerns for electric car owners. Unfortunately, many charging stations are located in inexplicable places, such as a remote corner of a parking lot. Apart from the charging piles, there are almost no service facilities nearby, no toilets or restaurants. The boredom makes the wait even more unbearable.
Charge at a Starbucks and your problem is solved. With over 17,000 Starbucks locations across the US, most are conveniently located, making them excellent real estate partners. While charging, drivers can relax with a latte, enjoy the cool air, browse the internet, and elevate their charging experience right there.
Cornelia admits that the collaboration with Starbucks is "about how can charging be seamlessly, elegantly, and joyfully integrated into our daily lives? We're focusing on what you can do while charging, and how can we truly reinvent the charging experience?"
While charging, you can not only drink coffee, but also buy groceries and watch movies.
Mercedes-Benz is certainly not the first automaker to consider this issue. Volkswagen, another German automaker, has strategically placed charging stations in parking lots of major retail chains like Walmart and Target, allowing drivers to charge their cars while doing grocery shopping. Tesla plans to build a Supercharger station in Hollywood, complete with a 24-hour restaurant and drive-in movie theater.
For Starbucks, this partnership kills two birds with one stone. It not only reduces consumers' carbon footprint, helping the company achieve its 2030 carbon reduction goal of halving carbon emissions, but also attracts electric vehicle owners, capitalizing on their charging needs and "binding" them into regular customers.
Charging electric vehicles is a profitable business for Starbucks
Crucially, this is a zero-cost venture. Starbucks only needs to provide a corner of the parking lot and bears no construction or installation costs. Mercedes-Benz covers half of these costs, while MN8 Energy, a solar and energy storage startup spun off from Goldman Sachs, covers the other half.
Mercedes-Benz isn't the first automaker to partner with Starbucks. In 2022, Volvo partnered with Starbucks to install 15 charging stations along the highway from Seattle to Denver, with plans for more on the East Coast.
There are currently about 188,000 electric vehicle charging stations across the United States, and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory estimates that this number will increase to at least 28 million by 2030.
Caffeine helps to refresh people, but the world is waiting to see whether it can help the number of charging stations in the United States grow a hundredfold in six years, break through the sales ceiling of electric vehicles, and accelerate the decarbonization of American transportation.
This article is reprinted with permission from CSR@天下. The original title is "Mercedes-Benz and Starbucks Team Up: Hundreds of Starbucks in the Western US Transform into Charging Stations, Selling Coffee and Reducing Carbon Emissions." It is not subject to the Commonwealth Creative Commons license.
Sources: Environmental Information Center
