Milence opens its first charging hubs in Germany

The CPO now has two truck charging hubs in operation in Germany. It is the fifth market entry after initial launches in the Netherlands, Belgium, France and Sweden. Although Germany is centrally located in Europe and is home to the shareholder Daimler Truck and, by extension, Traton, it was previously a blank spot on the Milence map. However, the roll-out should now be all the faster. The truck CPO wants to have 25 hubs in Germany alone in the near future.

Milence announced the first two locations in mid-May for the region “north and south of Leipzig.” That is quite a broad description, as the locations are each just under an hour’s drive from the German city. The sites were supposed to come online in July and September – the schedule could not be met, but at least they opened before the start of the new year. Both hubs – at Vockerode and at Hermsdorfer Kreuz – are conveniently located along the A9 motorway and thus on the so-called Scandinavian-Mediterranean corridor. Vockerode covers the Berlin-Leipzig area, while Hermsdorfer Kreuz is a transport hub between Poland, Dresden, and Frankfurt am Main, where the A4 and A9 motorways meet.

Four CCS chargers in Vockerode, eight at the Hermsdorf junction

CCS chargers with a charging capacity of up to 400 kW are available in both charging parks. Vockerode initially offers four charging bays, while the hub at Hermsdorfer Kreuz has eight. That makes the German locations rather medium-sized. For comparison, there is a charging park with ten charging points in the port of Antwerp-Bruges. In general, Milence’s chargers are located next to a secure truck parking area with facilities for drivers such as a lounge area, showers and toilets. As with the charging hubs already realised or planned, the joint venture is also announcing a two-phase structure for the German locations: initially only CCS chargers, later also MCS chargers for megawatt charging.

The joint venture is aware that over 30 per cent of European road freight transport passes through Germany – and considers Germany to be one of its “important strategic cornerstones.” For this reason, the two new charging parks will “soon” be joined by others in Lohfelden (near Kassel), Koblenz, Himmelkron, Hüttenberg, Kirchberg an der Jagst and Recklinghausen. Internationally, further charging parks are also planned in ten European markets.

First customer on board

Meanwhile, Milence has already secured its first user for the charging park at the Hermsdorfer Kreuz junction: haulage company Logistik Schmitt from Bietigheim in Baden has announced that it intends to regularly charge two battery-electric Mercedes-Benz eActros 600s there from the spring. That is because Logistik Schmitt regularly commutes on behalf of Daimler Buses on a route of around 480 kilometres between the Daimler Buses site in Mannheim and a supplier near Leipzig.

Rainer Schmitt, Managing Partner of Logistik Schmitt, comments: “Thanks to the charging points available at the Daimler Buses plant in Mannheim, the eActros 600 can reach their destination near Leipzig without intermediate charging. In order to supply the trucks with new energy for their journey back to southern Germany after successful loading and unloading, the Milence charging hub at Hermsdorfer Kreuz comes just at the right time for us.”

A brief overview. Milence has had a target of 1,700 public truck charging points for Europe by 2027 since the start of business operations in 2022. The joint venture has since specified that 570 of these will be created by 2025 – spread across the 70 locations mentioned. That is almost exactly a third of the charging points planned by 2027. The construction activities are currently focussed on ten countries, in detail: The Netherlands, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Sweden, the UK, Denmark, Poland and Spain.

Milence announced in September that the roll-out is now imminent: “In the coming months,” the MCS technology will initially be rolled out at five of Milence’s charging parks. The company is relying on a megawatt charging solution from Power Electronics. During a publicised test in July, Milence spoke of a successfully transmitted output of 1,100 kilowatts or 1.1 megawatts. In principle, up to 1.44 MW (1,500 A at 960 V) should be possible with the Power Electronics solution. However, Milence has not yet commented on the future ratio of MCS to CCS chargers at its locations and in the entire network.

Source: Information per e-mail