Back to customer stories 2026-10-21 • 11 min read

Kempower and Evergreen Mobility building France’s heavy-duty charging network

The DC fast charging manufacturer Kempower has partnered with French heavy-duty charging specialist Evergreen Mobility to bolster fleet charging across France and support the transition to e-trucks.

Electric trucks are reaching European roads faster than the corresponding chargers. EU registrations of electrically chargeable trucks rose 47.7% in H1 2026, yet Europe only has around 730 public truck chargers above 350 kW, against an estimated need of 35,000 megawatt chargers by 2030*. Fleet operators can buy the trucks today, but fast charging where their trucks already stop is still lacking.

To address this, Evergreen Mobility is investing heavily to deploy heavy-duty charging stations located at the country’s strategic transit hubs and has chosen Kempower as its charging technology partner. The partnership encompasses both high-power on-the-go charging at public locations and steadier depot charging for overnight recharging opportunities.

As part of the partnership and network roll-out, France’s first sites equipped with Kempower megawatt chargers were installed earlier this year: a public truck stop in Lapalisse on the N7 in the Allier and depot-based charging at a depot of Kimmel Transport, the French logistics company in Thal-Drulingen, eastern France.

Every site has its own charging needs

No two sites are alike. A truck pausing mid route wants a fast top up: no account, no waiting. A truck back at the depot for the night wants steady, dependable energy until morning. Most sites need both.

Then there is the architecture itself. Space is rarely prepared tarmac and grid connections might cap peak power on day one. Standard parking bays were laid out for diesel trucks, not cables, and for the operators who own these sites, electrification has usually meant heavy investment.

Evergreen needed charging that adapts to each site as it is, and a commercial model that makes processes easy.

Two sites, one scalable architecture

Both sites run on Kempower’s distributed DC architecture, which keeps the power separate from the charging point. Central Kempower Power Units feed slim Kempower Satellite dispensers and share capacity dynamically between connected trucks, so no installed power sits idle. Growing a site means adding Satellites to what is already there.

Site 1: Lapalisse, Allier, inaugurated in April 2026, in an existing truck parking,

A public station on the N7, one of France’s historic north to south routes, serving heavy-duty traffic passing through the Allier.

  • Kempower Mega Satellite with MCS (Megawatt Charging System) for rapid top ups on the move, live at 250 kW and ready to scale as the grid connection grows
  • 4 additional charging points delivering up to 300 kW peak when the cabinets are fully equipped
  • Fully open access. No subscription, pay directly by bank card

Site 2: Kimmel Secure Car Park, Eastern France, inaugurated in June 2026, in a Depot & Safe and Secure Truck Parking.

On the A4 between Paris and Strasbourg: a main route for German freight entering France. The site is Kimmel’s own truck depot and a secure parking facility open to other operators.

Evergreen in numbers

Since it opened, Lapalisse & Kimmel Evergreen stations has become a working part of their region, and usage keeps climbing.

  • 300 charging sessions delivered
  • Several tens of MWh of energy supplied to electric heavy-duty vehicles
  • 3 new transport companies using the station
  • A step by step opening to ensure during operations more functionality to the end customer.

Pay by card and no subscription, the EVERGREEN hardware & software infrastructure does exactly what it was built for and – as a result – three new transport companies have recently joined the client basis. Lapalisse also welcomed Renault Trucks for a half day of testing around the launch of the new T 780, covering space, manoeuvrability and the driver experience, and including the truck’s first charge on the site’s MCS connector. Megawatt charging is still ramping up in France so sessions like this are how stakeholders learn what heavy-duty charging really needs.

We want a network fleet operators can plan around. The right power at the hubs they already use and no barrier for the sites that host us. Lapalisse and Kimmel are very different locations, and Kempower’s technology let us build both without compromise, and with the same hardware. Distributed power for truck charging is a real game changer, and paring with the worldwide leader of this technology is a perfect fit”. Guillaume Cosson, Roll-Out & Product manager, Evergreen Mobility

Evergreen stations: Built to fit the sites

Kimmel & Lapalisse sites shows what that flexibility is worth. Kempower Power Units can sit up to 80 metres from the Satellites they feed, so the heavy kit went on a grass verge beside the parking area. No tarmac to dig up and quicker and cleaner installation. As a plus: not a single parking space lost.

The Kempower Satellites carry seven metre cables, so trucks pull in forward instead of reversing. Facing the lorries, one Satellite can potentially serve vehicles on both sides. At Lapalisse the same modularity does a very different job: MCS for drivers who will need maximum energy in minimum time, four high power points for everyone else, giving a great flexibility in terms of use cases.

Kimmel’s four eActros600 Mercedes trucks charge overnight on the Satellites and take an MCS boost during the day. The setup fits the fleet now and grows with it. Next up: Doubling electrified parking slots & multiplying installed power by 4.

Every heavy-duty site comes with its own constraints. Available ground, grid limits, the way trucks park. Our job is to make those potential issues disappear – put the power where it fits, reach the truck where it stands and leave the site ready to grow. Evergreen is showing what that looks like across France”. Cédric Moret, Country Manager France, Kempower

Why site owners say “yes”

Evergreen’s commercial model is a big part of why this network can move fast. Evergreen funds and operates the charging infrastructure in full, covering installation and running costs, while the host facility earns an additional revenue stream from renting the space.

The parking operator gains a valuable new service for fleet customers and new income, with no capital outlay and nothing extra to run. Fleets get charging at the places they already use. That is how a national network gets built.

*Source: ICCT, ACEA and VDA

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