[ilpappas]

Hi,
New to the forum and new owner of an EQC!

I am not able to "force" "Navigation with Electric Intelligence" to use IONITY since I have the active membership. The not so intelligence system keeps taking me to other networks that are 3 times more expensive.
I have to use abetterrouteplanner to find the right stop and then insert this manually on EQC's navigation to make sure the battery is preconditioned.

Any ideas on how to fix this? I have not been able to find anything online. Am I the only one with this issue?

thanks!

 

[Parkwood]

I have had my EQC since Sept and have still not charged away from home, facing a steep learning curve I think! Have just run a suggested trip through the Mercedes’ me app and it has shown the Ionity chargers available on the route here in France. When did you get the car? Is Mercedes me all set up and working? Some people have a delay in some of the functionality so just as a thought could it be the Nav system does not have your Ionity registered yet?

 

[Dar]

Hi. I would be interested to know how much time is saved in the overall journey by preconditioning.

A way to maybe make easier is to add all the preferred Ionity stations into your route at start of trip. Because when you add a destination, Mercedes normally asks if you wish to add to the list of existing destinations. (The sort order of stations can be changed later after adding if type in the wrong order.)

Another improvement might be to try save the Ionity charging stations as favorites and see if preconditioning happens when choose a favorite rather than searching for a station. You would still need use ABRP though, if unsure of the best route.

An even faster way for redoing a trip, knowing you will be going to the same stations, might be to use the "Saving a recorded route" feature. Because if you have a USB stick you can save a route as a favorite, not just a destination as favorite. Not sure if preconditioning would be activated though. See "saving a recorded route" under "Route" in the owners manual index.

Mercedes does have a "Mercedes Me stations only" option for routing however that it not just Ionity stations, though in some situations only Ionity will be used - as Parkwood shows.

Finally, asking Mercedes Me a support question in the app might get a better answer than me? And tell them to add the Ionity feature or else add a feature to start preconditioning manually.

 

[ilpappas]

Thank you for your replies!

I have the car for over a month and all are set on Mercedes me charge etc and I can see in the app that IONITY discounted fast charging is active . I have used it already.
Running the route from the app doesn’t take me to an IONITY thought. Just some other “Mercedes me” station which might be more efficient (taking into account range and battery level). But that is 3 times more expensive 😬

the recorded route wouldn’t help here since I want to use fast charge only on long trips. But I will look into that regardless for other reasons. Thank you!

I will post at the support as well

 

[Jamjsco]

I've got an EWB arriving next month. What is the Ionity discounted rate in the UK? The Mercedes literature simply says it's discounted for a year but doesn't state a price.

 

[Dar]

I've got an EWB arriving next month. What is the Ionity discounted rate in the UK? The Mercedes literature simply says it's discounted for a year but doesn't state a price.

You can check what Ionity themselves charge here for their subscription service, so Mercedes Me will likely be similar:

ACCESS & PAYMENT

 

[Jamjsco]

You can check what Ionity themselves charge here for their subscription service, so Mercedes Me will likely be similar:

ACCESS & PAYMENT

Thanks. It's not fully clear. This schedule suggests it's 27p / kWh at rapid DC chargers.

 

[Dar]

Thanks. It's not fully clear. This schedule suggests it's 27p / kWh at rapid DC chargers.

More likely to be at least 0.35 like Ionity charge; if not now then soon; prices are going up for example see band L here on the continent -

Mercedes me Charge: Mercedes-Benz drives electric mobility forward with simplified charging rates | marsMediaSite

Mercedes me Charge: Mercedes-Benz drives electric mobility forward with simplified charging rates

group-media.mercedes-benz.com

 

[Jamjsco]

More likely to be at least 0.35 like Ionity charge; if not now then soon; prices are going up for example see band L here on the continent -

Mercedes me Charge: Mercedes-Benz drives electric mobility forward with simplified charging rates | marsMediaSite

Mercedes me Charge: Mercedes-Benz drives electric mobility forward with simplified charging rates

group-media.mercedes-benz.com

Yes, I'd seen the new charging scheme which was one of the reasons I wasn't certain.

 

[Dar]

Comparing rates, Mercedes seems to have one of the lowest annual fee at the moment for Ionity, though pennies more per kwh than volume manufacturers. Porsche is highest charge for everything. Hyundai and VW offer some of the cheapest rates once subscription is paid. Dealing with Ionity directly you might think would be cheaper but is more expensive on subscription than anyone. Many of the websites mention June end as the cutoff before a new charging scheme may be introduced with Mercedes detailing in their press release what will happen in Germany anyway. I haven't double-checked everything but this should give you a general idea and you can check individual websites below also.

Hyundai £0.25 and annual fee £135

Volkswagen We Charge Plus £0.25/kwh and annual fee £167.88

BMW £0.26 and annual fee £135.60

Mercedes Me 0.27/kwh and annual fee £94.12

Porsche £0.30/kwh and annual fee £179

Ionity direct £0.35/kwh and annual fee £203.88

Mercedes Germany from June £0.42/kwh and annual fee £257 (however since ionity charge about same in euro as sterling it might be £0.35/kwh and £214.80)

We Charge | VW Charging Stations | Volkswagen UK

We Charge enables charging with ease on the go at charging stations and IONITY high-speed charging stations with transparent charging plans and control of the connected wall box ID. Charger.

www.volkswagen.co.uk

Mercedes me Charge | Tariffs | United Kingdom

With a Mercedes me Charge charging tariff, you always make the right choice for your Mercedes-EQ - stay on top of things with our transparent prices and charges.

eu.charge.mercedes.me

ACCESS & PAYMENT

Mercedes me Charge: Mercedes-Benz drives electric mobility forward with simplified charging rates | marsMediaSite

Mercedes me Charge: Mercedes-Benz drives electric mobility forward with simplified charging rates

group-media.mercedes-benz.com

Charge myHyundai | Tariffs | United Kingdom

With a Charge myHyundai charging tariff, you always make the right choice for your Hyundai - stay on top of things with our transparent prices and charges.

chargemyhyundai.com

Porsche Charging all-electric Porsche models quickly and easily. - Porsche Great Britain

Charge your all-electric Porsche conveniently at home or on the road and discover the innovative overall concept of the Porsche charging infrastructure.

www.porsche.com

BMW Charging | Tariffs | United Kingdom

With a BMW Charging charging tariff, you always make the right choice for your BMW - stay on top of things with our transparent prices and charges.

bmw-public-charging.com

https://mercedes-benz-media.co.uk/assets/documents/original/39829-NEWEQB11211125v1251121online.pdf

 

[ilpappas]

I think Mercedes has the lowest fee for IONITY because they charge for the Mercedes me as well, which combined is more expensive than IONITY passport. But indeed via Mercedes me you get cheaper price per kwh.

regarding the filtering of chargers on the navigation, the support said that it is not possible. In general my experience so far is that the nav support is not very smart. I was trying to navigate to a charger, with an estimated 5% of battery left, but the car said no. You must charge elsewhere before so you will arrive with more than 10% at the charger.
What I do now is to do my own calculations and insert the charger in the nav so that it’s preheated when I arrive.

 

[Dar]

I think Mercedes has the lowest fee for IONITY because they charge for the Mercedes me as well, which combined is more expensive than IONITY passport. But indeed via Mercedes me you get cheaper price per kwh.

regarding the filtering of chargers on the navigation, the support said that it is not possible. In general my experience so far is that the nav support is not very smart. I was trying to navigate to a charger, with an estimated 5% of battery left, but the car said no. You must charge elsewhere before so you will arrive with more than 10% at the charger.
What I do now is to do my own calculations and insert the charger in the nav so that it’s preheated when I arrive.

Many thanks for update!

As I guessed, a week after I wrote the UK rates comparison, on 19th April, Mercedes Me Ionity price per kw went up.. This time to to 0.38/kwh so now more expensive than Ionity 0.35/kwh rate though in UK Mercedes Me is lower monthly subscription so Mercedes Me will still be overall cheaper for many.

Mercedes smart navigation only allows minimum 10% battery on arrival at charger, looking at settings on Mercedes me app (and car likely similar setting).