Mercedes-Benz And BMW Joint Venture Companies Will Expand China's Fast Charging Network

BMW EV charging network in China. (Doc. Carnewschina)

JAKARTA - The Mercedes-Benz and BMW joint ventures Beijing Ion Qi New Energy Technology Co., Ltd., will expand the brand's supercharging network in the bamboo curtain country.

Citing Carnewschina, Thursday, March 7, the joint venture plans to build at least 1,000 supercharging stations equipped with advanced technology and about 7,000 regular supercharging stations.

Later, the first batch will be scheduled to start operating in the big Chinese city this year (2024), and development will slowly be comprehensive in various other regions across China.

The collaboration between the two auto giants in building charging infrastructure demonstrates a long-term commitment to China's new energy vehicle market.

As is known, in 2023 BMW delivered more than 40,000 units of pure electric vehicle models in China, which became an important pillar for BMW's overall sales growth, with an increase from year to year of more than 138 percent.

That same year, BMW also introduced six models of pure electric vehicles sold in China, with BMW i3 and BMW iX3 being the best-selling electric products, while the latest BMW i5 product was officially launched in January.

Actually, the two well-known brands already present a supercharging network, for example BMW, which builds a high-powered EV charging with a maximum of 600 kilowatts. By the end of January 2024, 54 stations have been built that cover 17 major cities in China and are open to all brand electric vehicles.

Meanwhile, in 2023 the Mercedes-Benz supercharging station has been operating in cities such as Chengdu, Foshan, Qingdao, Chongqing, Kunming, Wuhan, Suzhou, and Changzhou.