Mercedes-Benz said that its electric vehicles will be able to access Tesla’s Supercharger network starting in February.

But compatibility with Tesla's charging network—which Benz says swells the number of available fast chargers for its customers by 20,000 in the U.S. and Canada combined—depends on more than just a similar plug design.

As Mercedes-Benz prepares to add NACS ports to new models this year, the automaker is opening access to the Tesla Supercharger network for its existing EVs. Starting in February, authorized Mercedes dealers will offer a free software update for US-based EV owners that opens the gates to the network of over 20,

The German automaker's EVs will be able to access a total of 110,000 public charging points across the US and Canada.

Mercedes just announced when its EVs will actually be compatible. It's the traditional method of operating, similar to what others have been doing: owners will be granted an adapter to convert their existing Combined Charging System (CCS) port to the more efficient NACS protocol.