Governments and industry face a huge challenge to decarbonize trucks and establish a suitable heavy duty charging network for them throughout the UK and Europe, according to vehicle makers in Europe.
If enough charging stations are rapidly installed across the EU, their market uptake will increase exponentially over the coming years,” stated Martin Lundstedt, Chairperson of ACEA’s Commercial Vehicle Board and CEO of Volvo Group.
“Given that charging stations that are suited to the specific needs of trucks are almost completely missing today, the challenge ahead is huge. That is why we want to help governments and industry stakeholders to direct their investments to where they are most needed,” explained Lundstedt.
Fraunhofer ISI analysed the GPS coordinates of some 400,000 trucks in operation throughout Europe over a period of 12 months, focusing on the duration of stops at individual locations.
The analysis found that 10% of the locations most frequented by trucks in Europe or over 3,000 account for some 50% and 78,000 of total stops that trucks make.
With this in mind, ACEA is calling on national governments to ensure that the top 10% truck stop locations within their countries are equipped with suitable electric chargers by 2027 at the latest and a network must be in place three years later.