Mercedes-Benz will soon deliver the first eActros 600 units with MCS megawatt charging

Mercedes-Benz continues to advance toward its goal of electrifying long-haul road transport, relying for this on its flagship, the eActros 600.

Since series production began in November 2024, the German manufacturer has reserved, as a precaution, space in the vehicle for the future optional installation of the MCS charging port.

The truth is that the MCS standard is not yet fully defined, but the connector has already been standardized thanks to the publication in February 2026 of the IEC 63379 standard by the CharIN organization.

As a result, Mercedes-Benz plans to carry out the first tests with real customers in the second half of the year, using eActros 600 units capable of charging at 1 MW under the MCS standard. These tests will be part of the internal project Electrify Inbound Logistics, whose goal is to fully electrify the supply of materials to the production plants in Wörth am Rhein, Gaggenau, Kassel and Mannheim in the coming years.

As a preliminary step, an MCS-compatible charging station will be launched in mid-year at the main plant in Wörth am Rhein, where these tests will initially be concentrated under real operating conditions.

Within Mercedes-Benz’s current wide range of electric trucks, only the eActros 600 is designed to optionally incorporate this high-power technology; models such as the eActros 400 or the eArocs 400 do not have this capability for the time being.

The success of the electrification of road freight transport depends on the MCS standard

The German manufacturer has long demonstrated its commitment to the MCS standard by carrying out all kinds of tests. At the beginning of 2026, it completed a demanding route of approximately 2,400 km from Germany to Sweden, passing through the Netherlands, Belgium and Denmark, with two eActros 600 prototypes equipped with MCS. The company’s engineers evaluated interoperability with different charging stations and performance in winter conditions.

One of these trucks continued the route to the Finnish Arctic Circle, withstanding temperatures of down to -20 °C. The results confirmed that megawatt-level charging is viable even in extreme cold conditions, provided the battery maintains an adequate operating temperature.

“We fully support this open standard, which is independent of manufacturers, as it guarantees interoperability, scalability and security for long-term investments in different markets.”

With power levels of up to 1,000 kW, the MCS standard allows the eActros 600 to be charged from 20 to 80 percent in about 30 minutes, compared with the roughly 60 minutes needed with current CCS technology -up to 400 kW-. This drastic reduction in charging times will enable more efficient and flexible logistics operations, provided the necessary infrastructure is developed.

Currently, public MCS stations are scarce in Europe, since there are hardly any compatible trucks beyond test units, but this situation is expected to change in the coming years.