Powered by Northvolt: fast charging electric trucks

During the winter holiday weeks, visitors flock to Sweden’s ski resorts. This influx of visitors increases the need for trucks transporting deliveries to places like hotels, restaurants and grocery stores. Although using electric trucks has several benefits, not least in terms of eliminating emissions, travelling to isolated places like ski resorts presents a unique challenge: a lack of charging infrastructure. Scania, in partnership with Northvolt, provides a solution to this problem.

Between the 13th of February and the 10th of March, Scania traveled to Åre in northern Sweden with two of their electric trucks and a novel charging solution. Integrated into a container is a charging unit capable of providing up to 150kW for two vehicles and a Northvolt Voltpack Mobile System which supplies the unit with electricity, providing energy storage capacity of 560kWh.

Through this solution, Scania demonstrates how mobile fast charging can enable electrification, anywhere, right now.

Jessica Björkquist, responsible for e-mobility at Scania Sweden says: “An electric truck, which in this case is charged with green energy, reduces its CO2 emissions by up to 90% compared to a corresponding diesel truck. With a mobile charging unit, we want to show that electrification is possible here and now and that you don't have to wait for either network capacity or a charging post to be able to electrify.”

In a place like Åre, where grid connectivity is limited, a mobile charging solution offers a range of benefits. In addition to enabling Scania’s use of an electric truck rather than an ICE vehicle, the Voltpack Mobile System facilitates fast charging, without placing too much pressure on the local grid.

Existing electricity grids are limited in their ability to provide power. Fast-charging, in particular, can place immense stress on local grids. The Voltpack Mobile System makes it possible to deploy fast EV chargers on a low-power grid. Functioning as a large high-speed powerbank, the system draws electricity from the grid and then discharges that electricity at a higher rate than the grid could on its own.

Easy to scale and relocate, the VMS absorbs energy during slow hours, and boosts chargers to transfer power at high speed.

Another of Scania’s partners, Wibax, has also used the Voltpack Mobile System to offer a scalable and easily deployable charging solution for their customers. The system, named WiCharge, enables mobile and fast charging, allowing for increased efficiency and flexibility.

Jonas Wiklund, CEO of Wibax Group told us: “WiCharge is an important piece of the puzzle in getting our truck fleet electrified. WiCharge makes charging mobile, while balancing energy need, which can be quite high. Our mobile charging solution is able to follow our trucks wherever we have a contract. It’s a perfect fit for us, and critical to making the electrification of our truck fleet possible.”

Several automakers seeking to establish electric vehicle fleets are looking to build-out Europe’s existing charging infrastructure. Last year, Scania announced a joint-venture together with Daimler Truck and Volvo to install at least 1,700 charging locations along key transport corridors in Europe by 2027. However, by using the Voltpack Mobile System, Scania demonstrates that we do not have to wait until then to get electric trucks out on the roads.

Interested in using the Voltpack Mobile System for EV charging? Read more here.