Megawatt-scale eHGV charging hub opens

Kuehne+Nagel East Midlands Gateway is part of eFREIGHT 2030

The UK’s first megawatt-scale eHGV charging hub goes live at Kuehne+Nagel East Midlands Gateway as part of eFREIGHT 2030

The UK’s first megawatt-scale eHGV charging hub goes live at Kuehne+Nagel East Midlands Gateway as part of eFREIGHT 2030

The first of 25 megawatt-scale electric heavy goods vehicle (eHGV) charging hubs planned under the eFREIGHT 2030 progranme has gone live.

The eHGV charging site at East Midlands Gateway was created by global logistics company Kuehne+Nagel. It is the first MCS-ready (Megawatt Charging System) charger to be deployed in the UK. 

The hub was designed and implemented by Voltempo, lead partner of the eFREIGHT 2030 consortium and the programme’s charging infrastructure provider. 

The charging hub at East Midlands Gateway is powered by Voltempo’s HyperCharger system, which is capable of delivering charge rates up to one megawatt, enough to charge future eHGVs in less than 30 minutes. 

It is the first of Voltempo’s Megawatt-scale HyperChargers to be deployed under the planned national roll-out of 35 depot charging hubs through eFREIGHT 2030, part of UK government’s £200m Zero Emission HGV and Infrastructure Demonstrator (ZEHID) Programme, funded by the Department for Transport and delivered in partnership with Innovate UK. 

“This first deployment of Voltempo’s HyperCharger at Kuehne+Nagel’s depot is a significant milestone for zero-emission freight,” said Simon Smith, chief executive of Voltempo. “As lead partner and charging infrastructure provider for eFREIGHT 2030, our focus has been on delivering infrastructure that works for real-world freight operations today, while being ready for the next generation of high-power electric and autonomous HGVs tomorrow.” 

The Kuehne+Nagel site features six DC charging bays powered by Voltempo’s HyperCharger infrastructure. At the heart of the system is a single megawatt-scale HyperCharger pod, which intelligently distributes power across a network of chargepoints with one positioned at each bay, enabling flexible, high-power charging to support future freight operations.  

The East Midlands Gateway charging infrastructure will support Kuehne+Nagel’s investment in decarbonising its fleet. It will initially serve an electric fleet of 12 eHGVs which are part of the ZEHID project, including both DAF XF Electric and Renault Trucks E-Tech Ts as part of eFREIGHT 2030 operating across regional, national and international routes. Each truck is providing real-world performance and efficiency data to support the eFREIGHT 2030 programme, including analysis of energy use, range, charging cycles and total cost of operation. 

Kuehne+Nagel’s East Midlands Gateway facility serves as the company’s UK key operations hub for road logistics activities. It features 67 loading docks and handling a wide range of goods, including pharmaceuticals, high-tech and groupage services. Its location adjacent to the M1 and East Midlands Airport makes it one of the UK’s most connected logistics hubs, and a good base for demonstrating the viability of electric HGV operations. 

Kate Broome, sustainability and social impact director at Kuehne+Nagel, said: “Located at the heart of our UK road logistics operations, the combination of the HyperCharger and our new electric fleet enables us to deliver more sustainable logistics for our customers at real operational scale.” 

The Voltempo HyperCharger is a British-designed and manufactured charging system, developed specifically for heavy-duty freight applications.  Each HyperCharger can deliver up to one megawatt of dynamically distributed power, supplying up to six vehicles simultaneously. The system can be scaled across multiple chargepoints to support larger fleets and evolving depot requirements. 

Alistair Barnes, senior programme manager at Innovate UK said: “Voltempo's state-of-the-art HyperCharger is enabling eFREIGHT 2030 to meet the sustainable haulage demands of today and tomorrow. The ZEHID programme, funded by the UK government and delivered in partnership with Innovate UK, is providing strategic insights into the future of road transport. Powerful partnerships like this are accelerating the transition to zero-emission freight and driving the UK's clean growth ambitions forward.”

The eHGV hub was formally opened on 15 January with Chris McDonald, minister for industry in the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) and the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) in attendance.

eFREIGHT 2030 is a collaboration of HGV fleet operators, vehicle manufacturers, data analytics companies, chargepoint operators, finance companies, Research and Technology Organisations (RTOs) and trade associations.  

Set up by Voltempo in July 2022, and chaired by Sir Vince Cable, the consortium seeks to transform the heavy goods vehicle market in the UK, creating a widescale switch from diesel to electric power across the industry by 2030, and entirely electrifying the sector by 2035. 

The project is one of four consortia funded by the Department for Transport in partnership with Innovate UK under the £200m Zero Emission HGV and Infrastructure Demonstrator (ZEHID) programme. Through the project, eFREIGHT2030 will deliver 100 electric HGV 4x2 and 6x2 tractor units, and 35 eHGV charging infrastructure sites, of which 25 are planned megawatt-scale charging hubs. 

Consortium members include fleet operators Expect Distribution, IJ McGill Transport, Kuehne+Nagel, Maritime Transport, Menzies Distribution, Welch’s Transport, and Wincanton; retailer Marks & Spencer; vehicle manufacturers DAF Trucks, Renault Trucks, and Scania; software provider Dynamon, charge point manufacturer and eFREIGHT 2030 project lead, Voltempo Group; charging hub owner and operator, Fleete Group; data and research partner, Energy Systems Catapult, Tarmac, a CRH Company, TVS Interfleet and Berkeley Coachworks.