Why electrifying a truck depot is a different game
HGVs bring huge energy needs, sharp peaks and tight schedules. Here's what makes truck depots fundamentally different from van depots.
Last updated 15 August 2026
Electrifying trucks is not just electrifying bigger vans. The scale and the schedules change the problem, and pretending otherwise leads to under-built sites.
The energy is on another scale
A single electric HGV can carry a battery many times the size of a van’s, and needs far more energy to refill. Put a fleet of them on one site and the grid demand dwarfs a typical depot’s — often requiring serious network capacity rather than a modest connection. The sums that work for vans have to be redone from scratch.
The peaks are sharp
Trucks charging together create large, concentrated peaks. That makes smart charging and load management, and often an on-site battery, essential rather than optional — the levers that stop those peaks forcing a huge grid upgrade.
The schedules are tight
A truck on a fixed logistics schedule can’t sit waiting for a slow charge. Where a van has all night, a truck may have a narrow window between runs. That pushes some operations toward faster charging — and, for the most demanding cases, toward megawatt charging.
The upside
It’s moving fast: the first megawatt hubs are opening, funding is following, and many regional duty cycles already work well on overnight depot charging. The key is to treat a truck depot as its own design problem — start the DNO conversation early, lean hard on smart charging and storage, and phase by which routes are ready. Model the load with the Grid Capacity Estimator.