AITO shares charging stations with Mercedes-Benz and BMW. Chinese automakers are once again on the same starting line as luxury brands.

It's already 2026, and autonomous driving is almost at Level 3, but the charging experience remains a pain point for many car owners.

At noon on Wednesday, in the underground parking lot of an office building in Beijing's Guomao Center, Mr. Li had just finished a two - hour online meeting. He planned to find a place to eat and charge his car on the way to continue his afternoon schedule. But when he opened the charging app, the screen showed "No available charging piles nearby". On a weekend afternoon, the Solana shopping district was crowded with people. Mr. Li took his wife and child to go shopping. He wanted to park his car in the underground garage of the mall, charge the car and watch a movie as a family. However, there was already a long queue in the charging area. He could only sit in the car and play with his phone while his child in the back seat kept asking "When can we go?" The originally relaxing and pleasant family time was thus disrupted...

This kind of scenario used to be a common experience for many new energy vehicle owners. To improve this experience, car manufacturers are also sparing no effort in increasing their investment.

On April 17th, EaseCharge announced that SERES had joined the company as a new investor, holding the same shareholding ratio as BMW and Mercedes - Benz. The three shareholders will each hold 33.3% of the shares in this joint - venture company. Through this equity investment, Wenjie, the luxury brand under SERES Group, will support the construction of EaseCharge's luxury ultra - fast charging infrastructure. With the addition of the new shareholder, EaseCharge will continue to provide a luxury charging experience through advanced technology and digital services, and create an exclusive and premium charging experience for customers of BMW, Wenjie, and Mercedes - Benz.

For Wenjie car owners, this cooperation means far more than "just having one more charging option". Wenjie hopes that users can have a luxury charging experience that matches its luxury cars.

All along, the charging experience for luxury cars has actually been imperfect. For example, most of the third - party charging piles are still 400V, which results in slow charging and often no available piles. Luxury models generally have an 800V architecture, so the charging speed doesn't match well. During peak hours, the shortage of charging piles and poor maintenance conditions also lead to a very poor charging experience for car owners.

How can luxury cars get a "luxury" charging experience? Wenjie decided to stand together with global luxury giants like Mercedes - Benz and BMW to provide charging rights for users.

Why does Wenjie invest in a charging brand?

In 2026, the new round of competition direction in the automotive industry has emerged.

In the first quarter of this year, many car manufacturers began to focus on discussing the progress in the field of charging. In the past period, actions such as BYD's fast - charging technology, ZEEKR's full upgrade to the 900V architecture, and Li Auto's increased investment in building its own ultra - fast charging network all clearly point to the same trend - in 2026, the focus of competition in intelligent vehicles is shifting from the "visible" product strength to the "invisible" user experience.

The charging experience is directly affecting users' confidence in using cars and brand loyalty.

Perhaps it is precisely based on the insight into users' needs that SERES announced its entry into EaseCharge. After the cooperation news was released, many Wenjie car owners on Weibo left messages saying "I can't wait" and "Finally, this day has come".

Behind the enthusiastic response of car owners is an urgent need.

A Wenjie car owner told Guangzhui Intelligence, "Previously, I had to go to the charging station to see if there were any available piles. Now I can make an appointment on my phone and go directly, which saves me from making a wasted trip." When asked why he was not willing to go to public charging stations, the car owner said, "Most of the time, I have to'share a pile' with others. My car supports ultra - fast charging, but when the power is shared, it becomes'slow charging'."

After joining EaseCharge, the charging experience of Wenjie car owners will be greatly improved.

First of all, joining EaseCharge means that Wenjie users will enjoy the same luxury charging rights as BMW and Mercedes - Benz car owners, including exclusive services such as reservation charging and priority power allocation.

In terms of charging efficiency, there will also be a significant improvement. It is reported that EaseCharge uses all pure liquid - cooled ultra - fast charging piles with a rated power of 600kW and a maximum current of 800A, supporting intelligent dynamic power allocation. Simply put, every pile at EaseCharge stations is an ultra - fast charging pile. With real - time vehicle detection in the cloud, the station can allocate the power pool to vehicles with high - power requirements, ensuring that its own users enjoy the "VIP" treatment first.

It is worth noting that the charging equipment at EaseCharge stations has also been optimized. For example, the charging gun is designed to be lightweight, weighing only 3.15kg, so female car owners can hold it with one hand. In fact, users on social platforms often complain that "the guns at some charging stations are too heavy and the cables are too stiff to move".

More importantly, EaseCharge's station construction strategy is centered around users' living circles. It gives priority to locations in the city's core business districts, mature commercial complexes, central business districts, and main roads, such as Wanda Plaza in Beijing, Solana, Guomao, and Chaoyang Joy City. While charging their cars, Wenjie car owners can also go shopping, have a meal, or work. It takes into account the concept of "where the car owners are, the service is there".

"Actually, I go to just a few places. I go to work on weekdays and take my child to classes at the mall on weekends. It's fine as long as the parking and charging are convenient," a car owner told Guangzhui Intelligence.

All in all, after Wenjie users use EaseCharge's services, it's not just a simple upgrade in charging speed, but a leap from "usable" to "user - friendly".

However, some Wenjie car owners are worried that with so many new users joining EaseCharge, will the service quality decline?

The answer is that there's not much need to worry. EaseCharge's service capacity was fully verified during the Spring Festival in 2026. According to the data released by EaseCharge during the Spring Festival this year, before and after the entire holiday, EaseCharge's ultra - fast charging services in 37 cities and 478 stations across the country served more than 70,000 users, completed more than 90,000 charging orders, and the total charging volume reached 3 million kWh. Among them, during the peak return period from February 22nd to 23rd, the charging volume in two days exceeded 300,000 kWh. Such operation data is enough to reassure new users.

Charging: A compulsory course in the second half of the luxury car competition

To be fair, for car manufacturers to enter the business of building charging stations is not a very cost - effective investment.

According to industry data, in the fourth quarter of 2025, the average utilization rate of public charging piles across the country was only 6.2%, and the utilization rate of ordinary charging stations is not high. However, in terms of cost, the investment in building ultra - fast charging or large - scale stations is about 2 - 5 million yuan, which results in a pay - back period of the project of basically more than 5 years, and some even take 8 - 10 years.

So from a business logic perspective, for car manufacturers to build differentiated and characteristic charging stations should actually be regarded as an "operating cost" rather than a "profit - making project" with the goal of making profits. It can even be said that whether a brand builds its own charging stations represents how willing it is to serve car owners.

Then why does Wenjie still choose to join EaseCharge? Behind this is to provide users with a better experience after purchasing the car.

First of all, one of the reasons why the Chinese intelligent vehicle market leads the world is the energy infrastructure. One of the important factors for the low penetration rate of new energy vehicles in the United States is also the insufficient energy infrastructure. According to the statistics of Cui Dongshu, the secretary - general of the Passenger Car Association, in the fourth quarter of 2025, the penetration rate of new energy vehicles in China reached 49.3%, while in the United States, it was only 7%.

So in the entire stage of vehicle electrification, car manufacturers quickly realized that the charging infrastructure is essentially a sales driver. After all, the ability to charge at any time can make users feel confident in using their cars. For car brands, users are more likely to buy brands with convenient charging facilities. The energy infrastructure has become the key to improving user loyalty.

"I used to think that a brand should invest as much as possible in the car, and product quality speaks for itself. But after buying a car, I realized the importance of charging piles," a domestic luxury intelligent vehicle owner told Guangzhui Intelligence. A dedicated charging pile can bring not only convenience but also a sense of brand pride.

However, due to the huge rigid cost of energy construction, it has also given rise to a characteristic cooperation model in the era of new energy vehicles. And EaseCharge, which Wenjie has joined, is such an example.

In 2023, two international giants, Mercedes - Benz and BMW, chose to jointly establish EaseCharge to build the energy - replenishing infrastructure for luxury car consumers. After Wenjie joined this year, it has further stimulated the potential of EaseCharge, providing its own users with the same experience as global luxury giants.

After all, Wenjie delivered more than 420,000 vehicles in 2025. Among them, the high - end Wenjie M9 had an annual delivery of more than 11,000 vehicles. As a car with a price of over 500,000 yuan, the Wenjie M9 almost represents the face of China's ultra - high - end intelligent vehicles. It can be predicted that after Wenjie's entry, EaseCharge will have a large number of existing and new users. With more users using the service and more extensive station construction, more Wenjie car owners will be able to enjoy the energy - replenishing services of global luxury car brands.

"Previously, people always said that my car was far ahead in terms of intelligence. Now that I can charge my car with Mercedes - Benz and BMW, I also have a place that matches my status," a Wenjie M8 owner told Guangzhui Intelligence. For Wenjie car owners, the investment in infrastructure brings a sense of security and respect.

Perhaps, cooperation in the era of intelligent vehicles should be open. When Chinese brands and world - class luxury brands appear together in more and more occasions, it is a proof of the successful high - end transformation of Chinese independent brands and their participation in the formulation of global industrial standards. At the same time, in - depth participation in the construction of green energy infrastructure also shows Wenjie's responsibility and commitment to the "dual - carbon" goal and the upgrade of energy infrastructure.

Conclusion

Building a luxury brand is actually much more difficult than expected. Because luxury is never about having the best - configured products, but about users truly feeling "valued" in every car - using scenario.

And there is no shortcut to creating "luxury".

In the R & D process of international luxury car brands, there is a process called Perceived Quality. This task requires an expert team (including internal engineers and external users) to subjectively score items such as appearance, touch, sound, smell, gap uniformity, and operating feel to judge "whether it has a high - end and luxurious feel" and "quality". These difficult - to - quantify indicators can only be gradually accumulated through the brand's experience and market feedback.

In the past few years, Wenjie has fully demonstrated its strength in product power. However, just having a luxurious product is not enough. By investing in EaseCharge, Wenjie hopes that car owners can also have the experience of global top - tier luxury brands in scenarios other than driving. In Wenjie's view, every calm charging experience of users is the real starting point of the brand's luxury.

This article is from the WeChat official account "Guangzhui Intelligence" (ID: guangzhui - tech), written by Liu Junhong and edited by Wang Yisu. It is published by 36Kr with authorization.