Where to locate the charging stations for BEV trucks across EU? A hypothesis from Fraunhofer ISI
To identify the sites, Fraunhofer analysed 30,000 aggregated truck stop locations. This information, based on the logistics activity of some 400,000 trucks using 750,000 individual stops, was collected by the seven European truck manufacturers.
The future plans about how to locate the charging stations should be based on the current operation patterns of vehicles. That’s what a study conducted by Fraunhofer ISI on behalf of the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (here, a video about the 30th anniversary of the association) revealed, indicating some key locations for the future deployment of charging points for battery electric trucks.
Info collected by the seven European truck manufacturers
To identify these sites, Fraunhofer analysed 30,000 aggregated truck stop locations. This information, based on the logistics activity of some 400,000 trucks using 750,000 individual stops, was collected by the seven European truck manufacturers.
As a matter of fact, the truck stop locations are concentrated around highly populated areas in central Europe. They are denser around important industrial areas and major cities – such as Northern Italy, Paris, Greater Manchester, Berlin and Frankfurt – and follow main European roads.
The market uptake of electric trucks is set to surge over the next few years. However, the infrastructure necessary to charge these trucks is still sorely lacking, so it needs to be rolled out as a matter of urgency
Eric-Mark Huitema, ACEA Director General
Where to locate the charging stations: two main categories of stopping time
According to the study, there are two main categories of stopping time: less than three hours (with 35 percent between 30 and 60 minutes), and longer than eight hours. The high frequency of shorter stops, as well as the driving and rest time rules, highlight the need for high-power charging points suitable for re-charging trucks in a short amount of time.
The new analysis provides a good indication of suitable sites for charging infrastructure from a logistics and operational perspective. Further analysis using other criteria (eg available power grid capacity, local considerations, existence of charging infrastructure for electric cars, etc) will be required for investment decisions.
