MAN demonstrates Megawatt charging in sub-zero temperatures
The public charging demonstration was held at an event hosted by charging infrastructure manufacturer Kempower in the southern Swedish city of Norrköping. During the test, around 750 kW of power was delivered, enabling MAN’s current generation of electric trucks to recharge their batteries from 10 to 90 percent in approximately 30 minutes. The key takeaway from Sweden: the process works reliably even in sub-zero temperatures. On the infrastructure side, a Kempower MCS charging unit was used. The demonstration took place at the premises of Kempower’s customer, Alfredsson Transport. As previously reported, the Finnish manufacturer installed an MCS depot charger there late last summer.
The system in question is the MCS charging system that Kempower first introduced in 2024. It supports currents of up to 1,500 amperes and delivers a power output of up to 1.2 megawatts. The system, called the ‘Kempower Mega Satellite’, features both a liquid-cooled MCS plug and a conventional CCS plug. The charging power did not exceed 750 kW during the demonstration because the current batteries in MAN trucks cannot handle higher charging rates.
However, the primary focus of the demonstration in Norrköping was technical interoperability between the vehicle and charging infrastructure—”a decisive factor for the industrial ramp‑up of megawatt charging,” as the Munich-based manufacturer emphasises. MAN has been testing this compatibility for some time with various charging station providers. The public demonstration in Sweden provided a challenging environment: low temperatures and real-world load demands.
“The MAN eTruck has proven the stability of the MCS charging process during the live demonstrations in Sweden, including controlled charging performance and secure communication between vehicle and charger,” summarises Sven Steckhan, Program Lead Charging at MAN Truck & Bus. “All our tests confirm the robustness of hardware and software integration and underline the maturity of MCS technology for future series production.”
The TGX and eTGS models, designed for a gross vehicle weight of 44 tonnes, are already available for order at MAN with the MCS option. The company plans to begin production of this equipment variant in the second quarter of this year. However, the MCS standard is not yet finalised: industry stakeholders within the CharIN organisation have been working for years on standardisation to ensure that charging heavy-duty vehicles via the MCS plug works universally and under all conditions. The plug interface has now been standardised as an intermediate step, though software and communication protocols are not yet fully finalised.
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