High power charging stations are essential to push the use of battery-electric drive-trains and the megawatt charging of heavy-duty commercial trucks in particular. However, there are so many open questions here, and especially a lack of experience with installing and operating the corresponding charging stations. This is precisely where the new project “High power charging for trucks in long-distance operation (HoLa)” comes in, which is being funded as part of the BMVI’s Electric Mobility funding framework.

Construction of high power charging stations for trucks along the A2 highway

In total, eight high power charging points will be installed and operated at four locations in the project supported by the VDA and with a consortium led by Fraunhofer ISI. The first phase is to plan and construct CCS (Combined Charging System) charging points followed by high power charging points featuring the MCS technology. These charging stations are located along the A2 highway between the Ruhr region and Berlin – at rest areas as well as at logistics centers, in order to consider different application cases.

Dr. Patrick Plötz, who heads the project at Fraunhofer ISI, has this to say about HoLa: “In spite of technological advances and international agreements, there has been a recent increase in transport-related CO₂ emissions. This is why it is essential to switch to climate-neutral drive-trains, especially in the transport sector. We need a massive expansion of infrastructure, particularly with regard to megawatt charging, if battery-electric drive-trains are to be used in heavy-duty traffic as well. In the HoLa project, we contribute to the knowledge required for this by installing and operating high power prototype charging stations for trucks. We want to help integrate the relevant locations for e-trucks into logistics processes as early as possible and gather user experiences with this new type of fast charging for e-trucks. We are particularly pleased to have a network of partners in this project that spans different sectors and includes energy companies, grid operators, truck manufacturers and rest area operators as well as several research institutions”. Plötz also emphasizes that close consultation with the National Centre for Charging Infrastructure is planned in the project and that the findings will be used directly in the deployment of charging infrastructure for commercial vehicles, which is coordinated by the Centre.

The project, which has a total budget of 27 million euros and a funding volume of 12 million euros, runs from September 2021 until the end of 2024, and was officially launched at a kick-off event with all the partners on September 27, 2021.

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