Kempower’s Heavy Electric Traffic Ecosystem kicks off with an electrifying event  

On Friday, May 17, 2024, Kempower launched the Heavy Electric Traffic Ecosystem (HETE) project in Lahti, Finland, with a kickoff event to electrify heavy traffic sustainably with innovative DC fast-charging technology. HETE aims to drive the industry forward with well-orchestrated collaboration.  

Participants at the event represented a wide range of companies, governmental organizations, educational institutes and others. All were eager to discover what they could give to the ecosystem, how they could benefit and the next steps ahead.  

“Our mission is to electrify heavy traffic sustainably,” said Kempower’s Paula Savonen, VP, Communications, as she opened the event. “We are super excited to see you. Our aim for the event was to have 80 participants – and we have over 135 here today!”  

The goal for Kempower and all participants in the ecosystem is to work with and learn from each other. The electrification of trucks is only just beginning. “It’s huge, and it’s global,” Savonen continued. “We cannot do it alone. We need networking and ideas on how to move forward.” 

Reducing the CO₂ emissions of trucks, which contribute 27% of total traffic emissions in the EU alone, requires scalable and practical charging infrastructure. It takes players from all segments to tackle the challenges and bring about the innovations and changes needed to develop a sustainable future for trucks. That led to the need for HETE. 

The morning kickoff began with several presentations emphasizing the need for electrification and the mission of HETE. It ended with networking breakout sessions that activated the participants to consider “How to engage with the ecosystem.” 

HETE Veturi vision of new opportunities and dreams 

Kempower is taking the lead for the ecosystem co-funded by Business Finland’s Veturi program. Its purpose is to bring the brightest minds together to benefit each of the partners and build competitive advantage.  

The overall aim is to build a leading global eTruck charging ecosystem by 2030. This involves research and development of new technologies and business models around energy flow and logistics as they relate to electrifying the heavy traffic industry.  

“The ecosystem helps define customer understanding before a market even exists,” says Tommi Rissanen, Research Manager, Kempower. He has been recently hired to head up HETE, define its roadmap and drive the entire five-year-long initiative.  

“HETE will help combine offerings and sales channels, creating more added value for customers and the whole ecosystem,” he said.

“No one knows what the future looks like. We want to explore new opportunities and dreams. We aim to create new innovations in all areas of future charging that serve customers and their end customers. And we look forward to finding the answers together with you.”  

Tommi Rissanen, Research Manager, Kempower

Rissanen divided the HETE project into four research themes: charging technologies, customer applications, digital solutions and platforms and future DC fast charging. These were also themes of the four networking breakout sessions that ended the event.  

He presents the specific layers of the ecosystem like an onion. At the core are the HETE research and development partners. The next layer is the Finnish innovation clusters, ecosystem partners and stakeholders. The outer layer includes the European-wide RDI collaborators and international market players. 

Rissanen plans to move HETE with events, workshops, project planning and development as well as one-on-one meetings. “Although the project will span the next five years, we need to start early and be proactive to achieve our targets,” he said.  

Ready to rock when the markets open 

Mikko Veikkolainen, Vice President, Research & Innovations, Kempower, presented Kempower’s current position along the development path and reaffirmed its full commitment to HETE’s success. 

“Kempower, now six years old, is a pioneer in innovations. It started with the electrification of buses. Now, we are tackling the challenge of electrifying trucks and other heavy traffic modes,” he said. 

In his opinion, the goal of HETE is to understand what to develop to meet the needs of the market. The ecosystem needs to be quick and be the first to learn. When the market opens, the ecosystem will be ready to rock with a solid offering.  

The future of electrifying heavy transportation  

Kempower’s Antti Vuola, Director, Market Segments, explained the growing need for DC fast-charging technology to reduce CO₂ emissions, gain greater efficiency with renewable energy and lower the total cost of ownership (TCO) of electric trucks. 

“If we want to reduce CO₂ emissions, we need to talk about electrification,” he said. “The phases in truck electrification are coming faster than expected, and the market will multiply by 2030. There is a need for both AC and DC chargers and charging infrastructure.” 

The question of energy efficiency is critical. The efficiency of diesel when measured tank-to-wheel is only 13% compared to the efficiency of renewable energy, which is 77%. “There’s no question why we’re transitioning toward electric mobility,” he said.  

TCO is also driving the change. As battery prices come down, the cost of battery electric power trains will be lower, making heavy electric traffic business more profitable.  

Heavy traffic electrification will eventually cover vessels, mining equipment and even aviation. Already today, Kempower has delivered chargers that are being used by Canadian lake hopper aircraft.  

Backed by the numbers  

The largest and most lucrative market is electric trucks. “Trucks will drive the movement,” said Abdul Mohammed, Market Intelligence Analyst, Kempower.  

In the EU alone, 80% of goods on land are carried by approximately 8 million trucks. Each truck easily covers about 150,000 km per year.  

In 2023, electric trucks registrations accounted for 2%. By 2030, this share is expected to grow up to 40%. In Q1 2024, 2,224 new eTrucks were registered in the EU. Of these, 63% were in Germany, the UK and the Netherlands. By 2030, 500,000 eTrucks are expected to be on the EU roads.  

“Renewable energy is the most efficient energy source, leading to sustainability and a greener future,” Mohammed said. “What is needed, though, are the enabling conditions. These include eTruck charging infrastructure, favorable policies, TCO on par with fossil-fuel trucks and green energy for charging – otherwise, we’re not decarbonizing.”  

Join the movement  

HETE’s goal is to bring companies and other partners together to work toward a common goal, harnessing each other’s strengths, sharing knowledge and expertise.  

“Bringing the various actors and companies together will make a real contribution towards sustainability,” Mohammed commented. “I am honored to be part of this today.”  

“The future of trucks is electric,” Tommi Rissanen challenged the audience before breaking out into four mini workshop sessions around the main research themes. “What does this mean for you?”  

Kempower invites all companies that are enabling energy flow – from electricity producers to batteries to join us on our HETE mission.