Trucks
Trucks
The number of public charging stations designed specifically for heavy-duty trucks is expected to grow rapidly in the coming years. Combined with increased charging power, this will make it easier for more businesses to go electric worldwide.
Up until now, a lack of public charging stations has meant that owners of electric trucks have largely been confined to overnight charging on their own premises. Combined with limited ranges, this has restricted the potential for electrical transport.
However, this is starting to change. Today, European regions such as Scandinavia, Central Europe and Benelux are well on the way towards developing serviceable networks that will enable full electric truck operation along all major roads and highways. And according to Dr. Patrick Plötz, industry trends suggest that this expansion will continue.
“The public charging infrastructure for battery-electric trucks is evolving quickly at the moment,” says Dr. Patrick Plötz, Coordinator of Business Unit Energy Economy, Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research ISI in Karlsruhe, Germany.
“Several industry actors are building public charging stations across Europe. It's not yet a sufficient network, but we’re seeing very fast developments, and soon we will see public charging stations opening every week.”
The public charging infrastructure for battery-electric trucks is evolving quickly…soon we will see public charging stations opening every week.”
Dr. Patrick Plötz has spent over a decade researching the electrification of transportation, and is involved in numerous research projects (including the HoLa project, which aims to establish four charging stations with megawatt capacity along the A2 highway between Berlin and the Ruhr region).
He has also contributed to modeling the required public charging infrastructure for battery-electric trucks in Germany and in Europe. He believes that new government regulations, combined with increased investment from both the public and private sectors, will accelerate the expansion of public charging networks in the next few years.
“On the one hand, we see a lot of activity on the governmental side, such as the EU’s alternative fuels infrastructure regulation. And on the other hand, we see a lot of industry activity, such as oil companies that realize they will not be able to sell diesel forever, so they’re investing in truck charging instead.
“And then there is a joint venture of the three big truck OEMs in Europe, which plans to build 1700 charging points by 2027. Together, all these activities are creating a strong push towards expanded public charging networks.”
To meet new EU regulations, member states must build up to 3,000 public charging stations dedicated solely to trucks across Europe by 2030
The broadest regulation to be implemented recently is the EU’s alternative fuels infrastructure regulation (AFIR), which covers a range of fuels and types of transport.
For heavy-duty electric trucks, it calls for recharging stations for heavy-duty vehicles to be deployed every 60 km along the TEN-T core network and every 100 km on the TEN-T comprehensive network by 2030. (The Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) covers the most critical transport connections between the EU’s major cities and economic hubs).
“Meeting these targets will require European member states to build up to 3000 public charging stations dedicated to only trucks across Europe by 2030, with a total of at least eight gigawatts of charging power,” says Patrick. “It’s very ambitious but I think it's manageable. I expect most member states will at least come close to meeting these targets, and some countries will even exceed them.”
There is lots of activity in the US as well, with the Biden administration recently unveiling its National Zero-Emission Freight Corridor Strategy, which aims to create a zero-emissions freight network by 2040. Public charging networks for freight transport are a key component of the strategy.
Another significant initiative is the recent formation of the Powering America’s Commercial Transportation (PACT) coalition, which brings together leading companies within transportation and energy to help develop charging infrastructure for medium- to heavy-duty electric trucks across America.
Today, the standard for charging trucks is Combined Charging Systems (CCS), which typically offers output between 50-400 kW.
Megawatt Charging Systems (MCS), however, will deliver around 1000 kW, which is enough to add 300-400 km of additional range to a long-haul electric truck in 30-45 minutes.
By significantly reducing the time required to recharge, MCS broadens the possible assignments an electric truck can perform and will make it easier for more businesses to transition to electrification.
So, when will we see MCS charging? The technology itself has already been proven on demonstration sites and trials. The last remaining hurdle before commercialization is to finalize the technical standards that can support it, which is expected to be completed in late 2024, early 2025. And when that happens, Dr. Patrick Plötz anticipates the first public MCS public charging stations opening very shortly afterwards:
“I think over the next five years, we’ll see charging stations with a mix of CCS and MCS charging. Initially, it will mainly be CCS chargers as these are more readily available and faster to roll out, and MCS chargers will gradually be added into the system.”
However, while MCS charging will almost certainly be a game changer for transport with high energy consumption, for many other truck owners, the network of CCS charging now becoming available should be more than adequate.
“Not every electric truck will need megawatt charging,” explains Patrick. “When you look at the daily distances covered by most vehicles, most do not need more than 350 kW. Assuming we continue charging during drivers’ mandatory 45-minute breaks every 4.5 hours, it is mainly long-haul electric trucks that need higher charging power. And in those cases, if a truck drives 400 km, which basically what you can cover in 4.5 hours, around 750 kW is sufficient to fully recharge.”
