Traton, Daimler and Volvo join forces for charging

If you’ve ever wondered why there is more noise being made about electric trucks in Europe than there is here, or even in the United States, you need look no further than this story.

The three biggest truck manufacturers in the world are collaborating to form a company that will offer charging of heavy-duty electric trucks right across Europe.

The Traton Group (Scania, MAN and Navistar), Daimler Truck (Mercedes-Benz, Freightliner and Fuso) and the Volvo Group (Volvo Truck, Mack and UD) have completed the final step in forming their joint venture for charging infrastructure in Europe.

Announced last year, the joint venture (JV) plans to install and operate at least 1700 high-performance green energy charge points on, and close to, highways as well as at logistics hubs across Europe.

The parties are committing to invest €500 million in total, which we assume is by far the largest charging infrastructure investment in the European heavy-duty truck industry to date.

The JV intends to take a leading role as a charge point operator (CPO) by installing and managing charging stations for heavy-duty trucks and buses. It will be a self-standing legal entity, operating under its own corporate identity and based in Amsterdam.

Anja van Niersen, who has been appointed CEO of the new company, will bring with her a wealth of experience from the energy and charging industry sector, most recently serving as CEO and later as Chairman of the Board of a major European electric vehicle charging network provider.

With an approach focusing on transport operators’ specific needs, the JV will provide reliable and accessible high-performance charging stations for all battery-electric heavy-duty vehicle fleet operators.

The charging network initiated by the three parties will be open and accessible to all heavy commercial vehicles in Europe, regardless of brand.

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“When we talk to customers about electric trucks, they always ask: where can we charge it [it]? To support [the customers] as fast as possible, we are teaming up and from today on kick-starting the European charging network,” Christian Levin, CEO Traton Group.

“With Anja van Niersen this JV has a CEO with a great deal of experience in setting up charging networks. Anja and her team will support the important journey to enable further progress of sustainable transport,” he added.

The JV team said it will work quickly to scale up operations and network deployment to provide reliable and convenient public charging for heavy-duty vehicles.

As the demand for battery-electric trucks and coaches is expected to grow rapidly in Europe in the coming years, the team will work collaboratively across industries to design and build charging solutions that match the needs of transport companies and drivers.

One of the biggest problems we are going to have with the introduction of electric trucks in Australia is charging infrastructure. And if you think we'll see this kind of collaboration on our shores, think again. It simply won't happen.