EU Gives Electric Truck Charging Network The Green Light – CleanTechnica

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The European Clean Transportation Corridor plan announced by the European Commission in the spring has received final approval. The plan has two major components — each with its own smaller branches.

The first is the North Sea–Baltic route, which begins in Rotterdam and runs through the Netherlands or Belgium, through Germany and Poland, before dividing into two routes — one that goes east into Ukraine, and one that goes into the Baltic States and across the Baltic Sea to Finland.

The second is the Scandinavian–Mediterranean corridor that begins in northern Scandinavia — with links to Helsinki, Oslo, Stockholm, and Copenhagen — and then goes through Germany and Austria to southern Italy. Within Germany, the route passes through Hamburg, Frankfurt, Nuremberg, and Munich, with a branch line from Nuremberg via Berlin to the Baltic coast.

Heavy Truck Charging In Europe

The core idea is for the European Commission and member states to jointly develop European clean transport corridors, particularly along key logistics routes. The initiative covers not only the technical rollout of charging stations but also streamlined permitting procedures, mobilization of finance, and prioritizing grid expansion.

According to Electrive, the EU member states already have the authority to fast track grid reinforcement for specific renewable energy projects through accelerated planning and approval procedures under the Renewable Energy Directive. Now the European Commission intends to extend this status to projects under the European Clean Transport Corridor to speed up grid development. It has also pledged to simplify permitting for charging stations for heavy-duty vehicles at other bottlenecks, for example, through amendments to building regulations.

In a ministerial declaration, the nine EU member states committed to the challenges and their shared goal of jointly building the corridors. “We, the undersigned ministers responsible for transport and infrastructure policy from nine European Union (EU) countries […] hereby adopt this ministerial declaration to advance the transition to zero-emission freight transport along the TEN-T network,” the document states.

The declaration also clarifies that hurdles to implementation exist. The states consider the EU’s Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Regulation requirements to be the minimum level of expansion, but see an urgent need for additional capacity. For those not familiar with the AFIR, the regulation sets a number of mandatory national targets for the deployment of alternative fuels infrastructure in the EU, for road vehicles, vessels and stationary aircraft. It reads, in part:

“For publicly available electric recharging infrastructure for light duty road vehicles (cars and vans), the regulation sets out mandatory national fleet based targets (e.g. for every battery electric light duty vehicle a total power output of at least 1.3 kW must be provided through publicly accessible recharging stations while for every plug-in hybrid light duty vehicle, a total power output of at least 0.8 kW must be provided).”

For a review of what a modern charging hub should look like, please see Maarten Vinkhuyzen’s story about the newest Fastned facility in Belgium. And while you’re at it, check out Michael Barnard’s latest take on why hydrogen-powered trucks are losing ground to battery electric models.

Fast & Friendly Charging

The AFIR also sets out distance-based targets for light-duty and heavy-duty road vehicles on the TEN-T core and comprehensive network. It also requires EU member states to ensure a number of recharging stations are in place for heavy-duty vehicles in urban nodes that provide safe and secure parking.

The regulation also includes provisions for ensuring user-friendliness of recharging infrastructure (e.g., payment options, price transparency and consumer information, non-discriminatory practices, smart recharging). For heavy-duty electric trucks, the AFIR requires fast-charging hubs with a minimum of 350 kW charging equipment every 60 to 100 kilometers along major transportation routes.

The electricity grid is identified as a major bottleneck, thanks to its slow expansion rate, lack of modernization, poor cooperation with distribution network operators, long waits for grid connections, and highly divergent permitting procedures at national and local level.

At least half of the member states are said to face delays in grid connections. Other obstacles to the transition to electric trucks include limited economic viability of vehicles and infrastructure as well as financing constraints. The nine countries view the Commission’s new initiative on public lorry charging as a major opportunity to align their policies.

“In the spirit of enabling cross-border, seamless zero-emission freight transport, we express our dedication to take the necessary steps towards addressing the challenges faced by the sector in accelerating the deployment of recharging infrastructure to deploy seamless, zero-emission corridors for heavy-duty vehicles by 2030 along the TEN-T core network.”

The signatory states pledged to treat charging infrastructure as a strategic priority in transport policy planning, linked with energy policy, and to share progress on a data-driven and regular basis. This cooperation is designed to tackle key challenges such as lengthy planning and permitting procedures, limited site availability, and fragmented financing.

The initiative represents both a joint political commitment and a strategic roadmap for current and future charging infrastructure strategies for lorries. The next step is to agree a package of measures by March 2026, exchange best practices, and share national platforms. The states also intend to establish monitoring mechanisms to ensure the targets are met.

While the AFIR mandates that chargers at charging hubs for heavy-duty trucks have at least 350 kW of power, chargers with a megawatt of power or more are contemplated in the future. Charging hubs with such powerful charging equipment will require close cooperation with local grid operators and may need upgrades to the grid infrastructure before becoming operational. Those sorts of upgrades are typically costly and time consuming.

Heavy Truck Charging In The Future

According to McKinsey, by 2030, more than 300,000 public and private charge points will be required across the continent for medium- and heavy-duty trucks. Today there are about 10,000 charge points available. Creating the new infrastructure will represent a significant challenge.

“Building out robust networks of chargers will require approximately €40 billion of capital investment until 2040,” McKinsey says. “Of this, €7 billion of investments are needed until 2030, less than a quarter of which has been publicly committed today. It will also be energy-intensive, consuming 20 terawatt-hours of electricity annually by 2030, roughly 0.5 percent of Europe’s total electricity demand. Gaining access to all this energy will often mean securing additional capacity on an already congested grid.”

“At the same time, the possibilities are wide open. With no incumbent players fully established in the electric truck–charging market, companies from a variety of arenas have an opportunity to shape the ecosystem of market participants, creating new businesses or forging strategic collaborations,” McKinsey adds. In other words, opportunity is knocking for those who want to get involved in the heavy-duty truck charging space.