Megawatt Charging of Commercial Vehicles – the Innovation Cluster Project ″HoLa″ Launched Under VDA Patronage

To gain insights pertinent to the Germany-wide and standardized expansion of high-capacity charging parks for trucks in Germany is the objective of the innovation cluster project “High-Capacity Charging in Long-Haul Truck Transport″ (HoLa) – a project that was officially launched at a kickoff meeting of the project participants. German Association of the Automotive Industry VDA will act as patron of the cross-industry consortium of partners from industry and research including the four truck manufacturers Daimler Truck, MAN and Scania (both members of the TRATON Group) and Volvo.

The objective of HoLa is to plan, construct and operate a selected high-capacity charging infrastructure for battery-electric long-haul trucks at demonstration sites along a section of motorway between Berlin and the Ruhr area. The project will also explore research questions related to the future wide-area expansion of high-capacity truck-charging parks in Germany and will serve as a blueprint for the design of such charging sites.

VDA President Hildegard Müller said: ″Electrification is making huge strides in the sector of commercial vehicles.″ High-capacity truck-charging parks and megawatt-charging facilities are important preconditions for electric vehicles to be widely used. The HoLa project brings together expertise from industry and research and helps to gather the urgently needed experience in the creation and operation of these high-capacity charging parks. It thus lays the foundation for the wide-area expansion of the new technology. VDA is proud to assume the patronage of this trailblazing project.″

In the HoLa project, two high-capacity charging points with the so-called Megawatt Charging System (MCS) will be set up, operated and used in real logistic operations at each of four sites along the Federal Motorway A2.

In the first phase, the sites with Combined Charging System (CCS) charging points for trucks will be planned and set up. In the second phase, high-capacity charging points using MCS technology will be installed and put into operation, creating options for the megawatt charging of heavy-duty long-haul trucks.

To take different use cases into account and to evaluate them, motorway service stations, logistics centers and depots were selected as charging sites. Real logistics operations are expected to get underway in the fall of 2023.

A total of 22 partners from Industry and research are involved in the HoLa project. The Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research ISI is the consortium leader. The technology consulting firm P3 Automotive GmbH is a consortium partner and responsible for project management. Other consortium partners include EnBW (the operator of the charging sites) and the charging infrastructure suppliers ABB, Heliox and Siemens. The commercial vehicle manufacturers Daimler Truck, MAN and Scania (both members of the TRATON Group) and Volvo are responsible for the conceptual design and for providing and operating the vehicles. The project implementation will be supported, moreover, by the Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Engineering IAO, the University of Stuttgart, the University of Weimar, and the Technical Universities of Berlin and Dortmund.

The associated partners include E.DIS Netz GmbH, IONITY, Meyer & Meyer, Netze BW GmbH and the Tank & Rast service station chain.

HoLa is one of three innovation clusters for climate-friendly truck powertrain technology presented by the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure (BMVI) at the beginning of September and will be financed within the framework of the BMVI′s funding guideline for e-mobility. The project, which has a funding volume of 12 million euros and an overall budget of 27 million euros, will run until the end of 2024.

Further information on the HoLa project is available at: www.hochleistungsladen-lkw.de