Mercedes A-Class PHEV charging cable

This page covers the plug-in hybrid versions of the fourth-generation Mercedes-Benz A-Class, sold as the five-door hatchback (W177) and the four-door saloon (V177). Every one of them uses the same drivetrain: a 1.33-litre turbocharged petrol engine paired with an electric motor housed inside the eight-speed dual-clutch gearbox, for a combined 218 PS and 450 Nm at the front wheels. The 15.6 kWh battery sits under the rear seats and costs about 10 litres of boot space. The Type 2 socket is on the right rear wing. What differs from car to car is the onboard charger, and that is the one thing that decides which cable you need.

Step one: work out what your car can take

Mercedes fitted three different onboard chargers over the model's life, and two of them were paid options rather than standard equipment. Every car left the factory with a 3.7 kW single-phase charger. On cars built between 2019 and 2022, a 7.4 kW single-phase charger could be specified at extra cost. On cars from the 2023 facelift onwards, that option was replaced by an 11 kW three-phase unit. DC rapid charging through a CCS inlet was a separate paid extra, rated at 24 kW on early cars and 22 kW after the facelift, but it uses the charge point's own tethered lead and plays no part in choosing a cable.

Most A-Class plug-in hybrids on the road today are second or third owner cars that started life on a company fleet, so the original specification is rarely to hand. Two ways to settle it. If you have the order sheet or the dealer invoice, the charger is listed on it. If you do not, plug in at a public post and read the rate on the car's display: a 2019 to 2022 car will hold at either 3.7 kW or 7.4 kW, and a 2023-onwards car at a three-phase post will hold at either 3.7 kW or 11 kW. From near-empty, that means three to three and a half hours, around one hour 45 minutes, or around one hour ten minutes for a full charge respectively.

Step two: match the cable to the charger

Each charger asks for something different from the cable. The 3.7 kW car draws 16A on one phase and any Type 2 cable will feed it. The 7.4 kW car draws 32A on one phase, which needs a cable rated to carry 32A per conductor. The 11 kW car draws 16A on each of three phases, which any three-phase cable will handle. British homes are single-phase, and a typical wallbox gives 7.4 kW at 32A, so the 32A requirement is the one that bites here.

That is why our 22 kW Type 2 cable is the recommendation across the whole A-Class plug-in hybrid range. Rated at 32A per conductor, it delivers full speed to all three chargers: 7.4 kW at home for the optioned pre-facelift car, 11 kW at a three-phase public post for the facelift car, and 3.7 kW with plenty of headroom for the standard car. It is also the cable that still fits if you change car. An 11 kW cable is a sound alternative if you have confirmed your car has the 11 kW three-phase upgrade and you mostly charge on three-phase posts, where it reaches the same rate in a lighter, easier-to-coil cable.

Step three: choose a length

The socket sits on the right rear wing, so reversing into a bay or a garage puts it near the post. Six metres covers most home installations on that basis. Eight metres is the safer choice if the wallbox is on the far side of the garage, or for public bays where you cannot control which way round you end up. Ten and fifteen metres are for shared driveways, on-street charging and multi-storey car parks, where the nearest post is often not the one beside your car.

Sockets beyond the wallbox

The same three-charger logic decides what a portable unit gives you. Our 22 kW portable charger plugs into a 32A red commando socket, found in workplace car parks, trade units, workshops and on farms. Carrying 32A per conductor, it gives a 7.4 kW car its full rate and finishes in about one hour 45 minutes, and an 11 kW car in around one hour ten. On a campsite bollard, a marina berth or a caravan pitch, the blue 16A commando charger runs every version at 3.7 kW, filling the battery in roughly three to three and a half hours.

Where the only supply is a household socket, the three-pin portable charger is adjustable from 8A to 13A and draws up to 2.8 kW, within the limits of what the circuit can sustain. A full charge takes around four to four and a half hours, against five and a half for the 10A brick that came with many of these cars from the factory. That covers an overnight stay at a relative's house or a holiday let comfortably. A built-in thermal sensor watches the temperature at the plug and eases the current back automatically if the socket runs warm, which is the safeguard that matters on wiring you have not seen behind the faceplate.

One specification, every cable

Every Voldt® cable is CE, UKCA and TÜV certified and made to automotive industry quality standards. The connectors are single-piece moulded units with no glue and no mechanical fasteners, housed in IP67-rated bodies tested from −30°C to +50°C. Conductors are 100% copper with silver-plated contacts, and every cable is rated beyond 10,000 connection cycles. Three-year warranty, 100-day returns, free shipping across Europe.