EV Truck Megawatt Charging System Early ’24

Having recently commissioned the UK’s fastest EV charger and the UK’s largest truck charging depot, Vital EV is raising the bar once again by being among the first to offer a MegaWatt Charging System (MCS) to help decarbonise the truck industry.

Whereas electric vehicles now make-up more than 1-in-6 car and 1-in-20 van sales in the UK, less than 1-in-100 newly-registered trucks are electric. Charging infrastructure has been highlighted as one of the key barriers preventing the electric transition in the HGV sector, which now makes up more than 25% of the total CO2 emissions from transport.

The Kempower MCS from Vital EV is ideally-suited to truck charging applications, providing up to 1.2 MegaWatts (1,200kW) of ultra-rapid DC charging and adding up to 372 miles of range during a 30-minute charging session.

The new charging solution is based on Kempower’s existing hub-and-spoke architecture, with the two Kempower Power Units coupling up to accommodate up to 24 50kW power modules (1,200kW or 1.2MW). This power is then dynamically distributed to the liquid-cooled Satellite Chargers – which have been fitted with the new MCS plug and, with a footprint of less than 0.25m², boast the highest power-to-footprint ratio on the market.

The MCS plug has been specifically designed to deliver the higher charging power required by heavy-duty vehicles like trucks and there are currently no plans to replace the CCS2 connectors used in lighter EVs like cars and vans.

Alex Rae, General Manager & Director at Vital EV, commented: “Decarbonising the truck industry is crucial for the UK’s net-zero strategy and we are delighted to be among the first to market with a viable charging solution for overnight, destination and en-route applications. With our background in industrial power engineering and a range of ground-breaking EV charging projects already under our belt, we are ideally placed to deliver critical MCS infrastructure projects and we look forward with excitement to working with the truck industry to make that fundamental switch to electric.”

Through the ZERFT (Zero Emission Road Freight) programme, the UK government has committed £200m until 2030 to developing infrastructure and lay the foundations for the most advanced electric truck charging networks, known as the ‘Electric Highway’.

As part of the ‘Trust’ aftersales support, Vital EV’s Networks team will continuously monitor the status of the chargers via our Occulus charging management portal, and carry out planned and reactive maintenance – including over-the-air (OTA) updates – to maximise charger uptime.