65 years of Italian logistics history enters the electric era: Powering Fratelli Foppiani Trasporti’s truck fleet
As fuel prices increase and net zero regulations move closer, fleet owners across Europe are electrifying their truck fleets. To make this transition a success, they need a charger supplier that guarantees convenient, fast and reliable charging.
In 2025, Fratelli Foppiani Trasporti became the first Italian company to put MAN eTGC electric trucks into operational service. It partnered with Kempower to install chargers at two of its hubs to ensure seamless charging operations tailored to its newly electrified fleets.
Since installation, fleets at the two sites follow the same patterns as pre-electrification, thanks to the tailored charging setups. As truck drivers follow their usual routes, Fratelli Foppiani Trasporti see the cost of running the fleet continue to fall.
The challenge: Electrifying a working fleet for a historic name in Italian transportation
Founded in 1960, Fratelli Foppiani Trasporti has built a solid reputation in high-complexity logistics over 65 years. Today the family-run company employs around 150 people across four sites and runs a diversified fleet of around 100 road tractors, 70 semi-trailers and 11 mobile cranes.
With revenue growing from €25 million in 2020 to €33 million in 2023, Foppiani is a national and international benchmark for the most demanding transportation operations.
For an operator like Foppiani, the switch to electric had to clear a high bar: the trucks had to perform exactly the same duties as their diesel predecessors, on the same routes, with no compromise on availability.
With fuel prices at critical levels, the economics were as pressing as the operational demands. Foppiani’s electric trucks run two very different duty cycles, and charging had to serve both.
• Shuttle running: short, high-frequency trips between fixed points with a return to base, concentrated around the Prato hub.
• Groupage: consolidated loads over longer distances, in particular along the industrial corridor between Milan, Bergamo and Brescia.
The two patterns share one thing in common: the trucks return overnight. This makes depot charging the key to the transition: reliable, overnight, with well-timed top-up charges during the day. Foppiani needed an infrastructure that could deliver this dependably.
Finally, with plans to expand its electric truck fleet, charging infrastructure at the hubs also needed to be able to scale together with the fleet.
The solution: Two Kempower hubs, built to grow with the fleet
Foppiani installed Kempower DC chargers at two of its sites. The architecture separates power from the charging point: a central Kempower Power Unit feeds Kempower Satellites and dynamically distributes capacity across the connected trucks. This way power is never left idle, and scaling the site simply requires connecting more satellites, with each Kempower Power Unit supporting up to 8 charging points.
Hub 1: Milan Corsico
• Kempower Power Unit: 250 kW installed, expandable up to 400 kW
• 1 × Kempower Satellite with dual connector and dynamic power sharing
• Paired with an on-site ≈350 kWp solar PV plant
Hub 2: Florence Prato
• Kempower Power Unit: 100 kW installed, expandable up to 200 kW
• 1 × Kempower Satellite with dual connector and dynamic power sharing
• Serving the intense shuttle running activity in the Prato district
How it works: Overnight charging, ideal for real-world routes
The electric fleet follows a rhythm made for electric: drive by day, charge by night. The trucks return to the depot after their trips and charge overnight to be ready for the next morning. On top of this come fast, well-timed top-up charges during the day, whenever the duty cycle allows.
From Corsico, the trucks follow a return-to-base pattern along the Milan and Lombardy industrial belt. From Prato, shuttle running keeps goods moving on short, repeated routes. In both cases the Kempower hubs sit exactly where the trucks already stop. As such, the electric trucks run according to an efficient schedule, with minimal adjustment to driving patterns.
33 MWh of clean energy has already been delivered to Foppiani’s electric trucks at the Milan Corsico hub since it came into operation in early 2026. The figure grows with every charging session. Solar in, diesel out for lower costs per kilometer
At Corsico, the charging hub is only half the story. A new ~350 kWp solar PV plant, capable of producing up to ~2 MWh of clean energy per day, powers the same site. The Kempower chargers are fully compatible with this new source, so solar energy can go straight to the trucks. The flow is straightforward: Solar PV (~≈350 kWp) → Power Unit (250–400 kW) → Satellite → MAN eTGX fleet (534 kWh each), with the grid connection as backup and for overnight base load.
Solar energy, DC charging and depot logistics reinforce one another. The energy produced on the roof charges the trucks parked below, overnight charging makes use of base-load capacity, and every kWh delivered on site is a liter of diesel saved — a benefit that grows over time, especially at today’s fuel prices.
Instead of being exposed to a volatile fuel market, Foppiani lowers the charging cost per kilometre, cuts the fleet’s carbon footprint and turns the depot itself into an energy asset.
Going electric only made sense if our trucks could do the same work, day after day. With Kempower chargers in our depots, and now our own solar powering them, our trucks charge at night and, set off every morning at full operational readiness as we watch the diesel bill come down. It’s the same pioneering spirit that has driven us since 1960, aimed at a cleaner future,” Pietro Zanon, Purchase Manager at Fratelli Foppiani Trasporti.
“Foppiani is exactly the kind of pioneer heavy transportation needs: an established operator ready to put electric trucks to work. Our job was to make charging simple — a flexible system for every depot that charges the trucks overnight, ready to grow with the fleet. Add the new Corsico solar plant to that, and you get a model example of electrification,” said Mattia De Lorenzo, Sales Manager and Fleet Segment Lead at Kempower.
