1000 charging locations in Europe are enough

Fraunhofer ISI and Amazon have looked at how many fast-charging stations for electric lorries are needed in Europe. The number is far lower than expected.

According to a study, 1000 fast-charging stations are enough to supply 91 per cent of the expected long-distance e-truck traffic in Europe in 2030. This is the conclusion reached by the Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research (ISI) in Karlsruhe and the US tech company Amazon in a joint study.

EU calls for more than 2000 stations

»The results show that even fewer charging stations than required by the European Union would cover almost all European e-truck traffic,« says Patrick Plötz from Fraunhofer ISI. He is referring to an EU regulation on minimum targets, which according to him requires more than 2,000 stations.

However, the charging stations would each have to have up to 20 fast-charging points with particularly powerful megawatt charging systems, emphasises Plötz. That would be slightly more than is envisaged in the federal government's plans, for example. According to the model calculation, 150 to 200 locations would be sufficient in Germany to achieve the 91 per cent quota.

The calculations are based on the assumption that around 15 per cent of trucks will be battery-powered by 2030. The researchers also calculated conservatively and assumed a rather low practical range of 400 kilometres and that the trucks will not be charging at the depot.

Megawatt charging systems urgently needed

The study suggests that the industry and politicians need to speed up the introduction of megawatt charging systems, says Plötz. »Because this will enable logistics companies that do not have the option of depot charging to electrify their fleets.«