Daimler Truck is making a serious move towards the establishment of a massive public charging network for semi rigs, but there's a catch: It's happening in Europe, at least for now.
Under its TruckCharge brand, which combines truck charging, hardware, and digital surfaces under one roof, Daimler Truck has officially announced plans to pursue the "fastest possible ramp-up of locally climate-neutral road freight transport with battery-electric trucks" in the European continent.
This project isn't just about building charging stations along highways but rather a large-scale, cost-efficient charging infrastructure that'll be open to third parties with over 3,000 fast charging stations operational by 2030.
The network is currently slated to launch by Q3 of this year.
At present, there's less than 1,000 charging points throughout Europe specifically for heavy commercial vehicles. What's more, they lack sufficient charging capacity.
Therefore, Daimler Truck will partially compensate for this deficit by building out its own network. TruckCharge customers will be able to open their infrastructure for external paid use by allowing depot owners to make their stations available when they don't need them. Daimler claims this will help to ensure a more comprehensive charging network.
There's already an existing European charging network operated by Milence, the joint venture between Daimler Truck, the TRATON Group, and the Volvo Group, that was setup in mid-2022 and is aiming for 1,700 public charging spots in Europe by 2027. TruckCharge's upcoming network will further supplement the market.
[Related: Milence opens charging hubs in Europe's largest transport market]
“With our TruckCharge concept for semi-public charging, we are aiming to close a large gap in the charging infrastructure for trucks. With more than 1,000 dealers in Europe alone, we have the best prerequisites to quickly build up our own network," explained Martin Hink, head of eMobility at Mercedes-Benz. "In parallel, we will offer our customers a complete solution enabling them to join the network. On the one hand, the idea is to help our customers to make their own charging infrastructure more profitable as this can be better utilized. On the other hand, we want to offer operators of electric trucks additional, attractive options for charging their vehicles.”
TruckCharge's responsibilities will specifically include acting as the intermediary between site operators and fleet operators for key tasks like planning, booking, and reservation and payment processes.
Site operators who opt to make their charging stations available can generate additional revenue from semi-public charging while fleet operators can take advantage of the financial savings compared to public charging facilities.
