The utilization imperative: How shared depots and flexible charging will drive the electric truck transition

The commercial transportation sector has passed the point of no return. We are no longer debating whether electric heavy-duty trucks are viable; they are already rolling off production lines and onto European highways in record numbers. Yet, as vehicle availability matures, the central bottleneck of the transition has moved squarely to the ground: charging infrastructure. To maintain momentum, fleet operators and CPOs must balance ambitious long-term electrification goals with immediate, highly flexible operational strategies.

Market momentum meets infrastructure bottlenecks

The latest market figures for the first half of 2026 present a compelling, if complex, picture. Despite ongoing geopolitical headwinds, the European commercial vehicle sector demonstrated impressive resilience. New EU truck registrations rose by 9.8% to nearly 172,000 units, powered primarily by an 11.1% surge in heavy-duty trucks.

Crucially, the adoption of zero-emission technology is accelerating. Registrations of electrically-chargeable trucks grew by 47.7% in H1 2026, capturing a 4.8% market share. This expansion is heavily concentrated, with three markets, Germany (+88.5%), the Netherlands (+44.5%), and France (+43.7%), accounting for 74% of all electric truck registrations in the EU.

While these figures prove that fleet operators are ready to electrify, overall market uptake still lags behind the trajectory required by climate targets. The primary constraint is no longer vehicle technology, but the enabling conditions – specifically the speed and accessibility of charging infrastructure.

The subsidy paradox: high demand, bureaucratic deadlocks

The economic rationale for electric trucks is stronger than ever. Rising diesel prices and favorable road toll exemptions for zero-emission vehicles in key transit corridors are pushing Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) toward parity faster than anticipated. For a low-margin sector like logistics, these operational savings are transformative.

However, the industry is currently navigating a distinct “subsidy paradox.” While government grants are vital for offsetting initial capital expenditure, the administrative rollout often inadvertently freezes market activity.

A clear example of this dynamic unfolded in Germany recently. The German Federal Ministry of Transport launched three major funding calls totalling around EUR 300 million, part of a broader EUR 1 billion, four-year charging initiative. The market’s response was overwhelming, revealing immense underlying appetite. All three calls were massively oversubscribed.

While this proves that transportation companies actively demand electrification, it also highlights the drawback of grant dependency. Many operators are now left in limbo, delaying site development as they either wait for the grant award notice or, if they went empty-handed, the next funding round. To avoid paralyzing operational progress, transportation firms cannot afford to rely solely on government handouts; they must design business models that make financial sense on their own merits.

Shared depot charging and the utilization imperative

Building out comprehensive, publicly accessible highway charging hubs is essential, but it will take time to reach full density. In the interim, private and semi-private depot charging must serve as the backbone of heavy electric transportation, with support from CPOs also adopting public truck charging.

Together, private depots and public e-truck charging points can connect to form a region-wide network. Achieving this is more than a necessity to enable an electric truck transition; it is financially beneficial to operators when they employ high utilization and flexible charging infrastructure.

For depot infrastructure, site utilization is the single critical metric governing ROI. A high-power charging hub that sits idle overnight or during off-peak logistics shifts represents stranded capital. To solve this, pioneering operators are turning their depots into multi-tenant hubs – charging their own fleets while opening excess capacity to external haulage companies. This tactic, on top of depot’s already lower operating costs compared to public charging points, ensure low TCO for depot owners.

Maximizing site utilization requires hardware that can adapt to a rapidly evolving fleet mix. Currently, the industry is seeking interim solutions to deliver higher power, such as “dual-gun” CCS charging (utilizing two CCS2 connectors simultaneously on a single vehicle), a method gaining traction in markets like China.

However, for true long-haul efficiency and heavy-duty transportation, the Megawatt Charging System (MCS) remains the ultimate destination. Capable of delivering over 1 MW of power through a single connector, MCS allows heavy trucks to recharge fully during short turnarounds and mandatory driver breaks, and offers advantages over CCS, such as a standardized location of the plug outlet on the vehicle.

The tipping point for MCS is already being catalysed by two transatlantic developments, as US operators prepare for long-haul megawatt corridors and pioneering European deployments demonstrate how MCS can coexist with current CCS standards today. The Kempower Mega Satellite Flex with both MCS & CCS reflects just that, as it provides fleet operators and CPOs with a highly flexible solution that guarantees high site utilization during the MCS transition.

Making depot electrification a reality
At the Alfredsson Transport depot in Norrköping, owner Erik Alfredsson deployed a site designed for dual use: serving his own fleet while opening a public megawatt charging stop for external haulers traversing Sweden. Powered by several Kempower Power Units totalling 2.4 MW and distributed charging architecture, the site executed one of the industry’s first public MCS sessions using the official MCS communication protocol.

During the session, the site dynamically split power across two trucks simultaneously, delivering a peak power of 728 kW (at 1,000 A) to an MCS-equipped Scania truck via a Kempower Mega Satellite, while simultaneously charging a second truck via standard CCS, reaching a combined output of 864 kW. Using smart software management (such as Kempower ChargEye), operators can prioritize MCS-equipped long-haul trucks to guarantee full charges within 45-minute breaks without denying service to CCS vehicles.

Rather than waiting years for costly grid upgrades, the depot integrated a 1.2 MW Polarium Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) and a 400 kWp solar PV park. Kempower’s Energy Management Software coordinates the grid, solar and BESS to shave expensive demand peaks, maximize local green power consumption and even participate in local energy markets, lowering operating costs while creating new revenue streams.

The path forward

The transition to electric trucking is moving from early-stage testing to commercial scaling. Yet, as H1 2026 data and recent funding bottlenecks demonstrate, success will not belong to those who wait passively for public infrastructure or government grants to solve every friction point.

The winners in this next phase will be the operators who act decisively but flexibly: building scalable infrastructure today, optimizing site utilization through shared access models, and deploying future-proof charging systems that seamlessly bridge current CCS demands with the coming megawatt era.