Volvo Group, Daimler Trucks and Traton, Europe’s three largest truckmakers, plan to roll out a dedicated superfast charging network for haulage vehicles and coaches to help accelerate their shift to the electric era.
The groups on Monday announced a joint venture that will invest €500m in 1,700 chargers and aim to attract public funding for the project. The haulage industry estimates it needs 50,000 chargers across Europe by 2030.
“We only have 10 charging stations in the whole of Europe right now, so there’s a hell of a lot to do,” Traton chief executive Matthias Gründler told the Financial Times on Monday.
Martin Lundstedt, Volvo Group chief executive, added: “In order to get this transition to happen, we need to have not only vehicles but a reliable public network.”
Europe’s largest six truckmakers last year pledged to eliminate polluting diesel models from their line-up by 2040, but the challenges of decarbonising the heaviest vehicles on the roads are significant.
The weight of the vehicles and the distances travelled mean they have to carry huge numbers of batteries, or recharge more often. That poses problems for a logistics and haulage industry that relies on minimising downtime and running cost.
Some parts of the industry are banking on hydrogen technology, which offers greater distances between refuelling than battery electric power. But large parts of the sector are also expecting to embrace battery technology.
The charging points backed by Daimler Trucks, Volvo Group and Traton — the VW-backed owner of Scania and Man — will be close to highways and destination hubs. The companies aim to have the sites ready by 2027.
The charging speeds will range from 50 kilowatts for overnight stops up to 750kW, which is fast enough to recharge a truck battery during a 45-minute mandated driver rest period. The three companies are still waiting on regulatory approval for the use of 750kW chargers, the three chief executives told the FT.
They will also require upgrades to the local power grids to accommodate such charging speeds, they added.
The arrangement echoes a deal that saw several carmakers including VW, BMW, Daimler and Ford team up to invest in superfast charging stations for cars across Europe, called Ionity.
The truckmakers on Monday said there was an “urgent need for a high-performance charging network to support truck operators”.
ACEA, the industry’s European lobby group, estimates that 50,000 high-performance chargers are needed just for heavy goods vehicles by the end of the decade.
“It is the joint aim of Europe’s truck manufacturers to achieve climate neutrality by 2050,” said Daimler Truck chief executive Martin Daum. “However, it is vital that building up the right infrastructure goes hand in hand with putting CO2-neutral trucks on the road.
“The second step should be a strong engagement of the EU for the full scale-up of a charging network across Europe,” he added.
Last week, Daimler, the world’s largest truckmaker by volume, unveiled its first Mercedes long-haul electric truck, the eActros.
But the German group warned that demand for the vehicle would be modest in the short term, while the total cost of ownership lags behind current models in some markets.
The truck, to go on sale in 12 European countries in October, will cost “roughly three times a conventional [combustion engine] or diesel truck”, said Andreas von Wallfeld, head of global sales at Mercedes’ trucks division.
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Volvo, Daimler and Traton plan European electric charging network - Financial Times
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