No, the headline isn’t clickbait; the new Mercedes CLA is incompatible with the majority of UK public electric car chargers, as the firm has scrimped on incorporating a 400-volt DC converter. Without this feature, the new CLA that was revealed back in March is unable to use many of the 14,000 rapid public chargepoints around the country.
The new Mercedes CLA is being offered in both hybrid and fully-electric forms, with the latter sitting on bespoke 800-volt EV underpinnings. While older EVs using 400-volt tech can plug-in and use most electric-car chargers with no issue, those with 800-volt architecture must incorporate a converter to adjust the voltage of the incoming electricity so it matches the car’s battery and other systems.
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Look closely at the CLA configurator on the official Mercedes-Benz UK website and it clearly states: “Please note that charging is not possible at 400-volt charging stations”. This all but confirms that the CLA will not get a 400-volt converter.
Without this, the CLA will be blocked out of a vast majority of UK public rapid chargers. Newer, faster, 800-volt EV chargers are beginning to crop up across Europe but there are only a limited number of these here in the UK, with most chargers using 400-volt tech.
