Two Volvo Truck & Bus dealers have each installed a 300kW second-life battery storage system to facilitate HGV charging.

Two Volvo Truck & Bus dealers have found an innovative solution to overcome one of the biggest barriers the UK faces with the shift to zero emission transport. Working with second-life battery energy storage systems provider Connected Energy, the dealers in Enfield and Carlisle have installed their innovative 300kW E-STOR second life battery energy storage system. The systems will provide enough power to ensure both facilities can run high-capacity charging points – 350kW and five 22kW electric car chargers for courtesy cars and vans for Enfield, while at Carlisle E-STOR will support a 150kW truck charge point and two 22kW electric car chargers for courtesy cars and vans.

The transition to all-electric trucks requires charge points that can be up to 50 times more powerful than fast chargers for cars. This places a much bigger strain on energy supplies than car charging – with many organisations lacking the available electricity capacity to install the charging they require.

“As a market leader in electric trucks, it is important that we can provide high-powered charging at our key locations within our dealer network to support our customers whilst maintaining their electric trucks and buses,” said Christian Coolsaet, Managing Director at Volvo Trucks UK & Ireland. “However, we are faced with grid capacity constraints at almost all our sites which is impacting our infrastructure plans. By installing Connected Energy’s battery energy storage systems, we can bring additional power onto the sites which helps us to move forward with the installation of high-powered charge points.”

E-STOR acts like an energy reservoir, storing power from the grid or on-site renewables during periods of low demand, and then releasing it during peak periods. In this way, it can help electric truck depots and service centres to offer high-capacity EV charging without worrying about grid connection constraints.

“Truck depots and service centres were not designed with EV charging in mind, so many of them are facing capacity issues as they look to extend their range into larger vehicles,” said Matthew Lumsden, CEO of Connected Energy. “E-STOR is often a more affordable alternative to expensive grid infrastructure upgrades – or in some cases the only option.