Mercedes-Benz announced Thursday that it will set up a network of more than 2500 high-powered chargers across the United States by 2027, an indication that the German automaker has stepped up its involvement in electric vehicles, taking a page from Tesla's blueprint.

Fast chargers which are distributed across 400 stations are operated beneath the Mercedes brand. The owners of Mercedes' vehicles will enjoy a higher rate of access but the network will also be accessible to vehicles from other manufacturers.

Tesla began to build charging stations in the past and this network has been vital to the success of the automaker by easing the anxieties of buyers who don't have enough charging stations to plug their vehicles into and end up at the side or on the side of the road. These U.S. fast chargers work only for Tesla automobiles, but Tesla has stated that it's going to open up this network up to different brands.

Mercedes's proposed charging network is an indication that Mercedes, which has been unable to retain customers from Tesla and is now determined to make electric cars a reality. The company launched the first battery manufacturing facility located in Alabama and started building an electric vehicle for sport and utility, called the EQS in its facility close to Tuscaloosa, Ala.

If it's completed Mercedes's network is just one-third the size as Tesla's currently. However, it is far more ambitious than those undertaken from other traditional automakers. Electrify America has 3,400 fast chargers in 790 locations across the United States, but does not prominently showcase the Volkswagen brand, even since it is the German company was the one who founded the network and is the owner of a large portion of the company.

"This is a strategic decision to put our money where our mouth is," Ola Kallenius who is the chief executive officer of Mercedes-Benz said to reporters on Thursday.

The company, which is already as a partner of Ionity the European charger network plans to put Mercedes-branded charging stations in Europe as well as China but it is starting in the United States.

Mercedes will share the costs of the network by partnering with MN8 which is a solar energy producer who will provide power to the stations. Mercedes and MN8 have announced plans to seek federal subsidies for companies who build chargers.

Mercedes owners can now reserve time for charging on the internet, and it is made to work in conjunction with Mercedes automobiles, meaning that drivers will not have to do anything else than connect their vehicle to the network.

Charges and payments "all happens under the covers, in an invisible way," Pasquale Romano, director of ChargePoint the maker of chargers that supply chargers to Mercedes the company, told reporters on Thursday.

The automaker will begin making charging hubs later in the coming year. The gadgets will be able to pump energy into automobiles at 350 kilowatts each hour, which is much more than charging stations typically found within the United States.

These hubs are located close to restrooms and restaurants Mercedes stated, such as near malls with luxury amenities that frequent Mercedes' wealthy customers. The hubs will feature security cameras to monitor the premises.

Mercedes is working to address complaints from electric vehicle owners who are afraid to use chargers in remote areas. They will place the hubs placed in "a safe location," Markus Schafer, the chief technology officer at Mercedes told reporters, "not in the backyard of a shopping center next to the dumpster."
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