E.ON and MAN Truck & Bus have joined hands for the charging infrastructure for commercial vehicles in Germany and Europe. Through their new partnership, the energy company and commercial vehicle manufacturer plan to establish approximately 170 locations with around 400 stations for public charging of electric trucks across Europe. E.ON and MAN are jointly investing in these new charging stations, which will be integrated into the existing MAN service network and will also accommodate commercial vehicles from other manufacturers. About 125 of these sites are planned for Germany, creating the largest nationwide public charging network for heavy commercial vehicles in the country to date. Additional sites will be developed in Austria, the UK, Denmark, Italy, Poland, the Czech Republic, and Hungary.
The new charging stations will be strategically located at MAN service bases, primarily in industrial areas with high truck traffic or near motorways, facilitating easy integration of public charging into daily operations. The layout is designed specifically for electric commercial vehicles, featuring drive-through facilities to avoid maneuvering difficulties for trucks and buses. Wherever possible, stations will be installed in separate areas from MAN service operations, with distinct entrances and exits for the charging area to ensure accessibility to all commercial vehicles. Drivers will also have access to existing infrastructure, such as sanitary facilities and recreation rooms, during the day.
The sites will be built in a modular fashion, starting with several 400 kilowatt charging stations at each location. This initial setup will allow an average electric truck to recharge for a range of up to 300 kilometers in about 45 minutes. In the future, the sites will be upgraded to the MCS megawatt charging system.
“Europe has set itself the goal of reducing emissions from heavy commercial vehicles by 90 percent by 2040. Electric mobility is a central key to achieving this goal,” said Leonhard Birnbaum, CEO of E.ON. “We are investing heavily to give the infrastructure for electric heavy goods transport a decisive boost and to set the course for sustainable logistics and green supply chains. Nearly all major manufacturers are now focusing their development efforts on electric mobility. For the final breakthrough, we need a high-performance charging infrastructure that is designed on a European scale. We are delighted to be leading the way together with MAN.”
Alexander Vlaskamp, CEO of MAN Truck & Bus, added: “For the mobility transition to be successful, we need around 50,000 charging points for heavy commercial vehicles in Europe by 2030. As a manufacturer of electric trucks, we are of course making our contribution to this. I am delighted that E.ON is now a strong partner for the electrification of our service locations. We are thus laying another foundation stone for a public charging network. However, we still urgently need the support of policymakers to build this network on a large scale.”
