Faster Isn’t Always Better: Megawatt Truck Charging Explained
Sign up for our newsletter https://randallreilly.dragonforms.com... for more electric truck charging and fleet electrification insights like this.
Megawatt charging for electric trucks is finally here, a long-awaited milestone for those in the fleet management business. However, at ACT Expo 2025, Eaton’s eMobility Product Strategy Manager, Mark Van Wingerden, claimed in a keynote that megawatt charging is not the ultimate charging solution fleet managers have been waiting for.
But first, what is megawatt charging? Megawatt charging is based around a new charging standard, called the Megawatt Charging System (MCS). This standard allows for charging up to 3.75 megawatts. However, current chargers beginning to come onto the market today offer up to 1.2 megawatts. This is double the power of the maximum charging power that was previously available to fleets, which was 500-600 kW.
While double the power sounds amazing, Mark’s keynote at ACT Expo made the argument that charging speeds need to be matched to a vehicle’s job instead of always being maxed out. His argument revolves around 4 bottlenecks associated with electric truck charging. These bottlenecks can be overcome, but they add cost and complexity to fleet electrification and should only be tackled in certain scenarios.
So, with these 4 bottlenecks in mind, what kinds of fleets really need megawatt charging? Watch the video to find out.
More videos on electric truck charging: • Electric Truck Charging: Depots, MCS, Swap...
In This Video:
00:00 – Megawatt Charging: Is Faster Better?
00:30 – What Is Megawatt Charging?
01:35 – Charging Bottlenecks: Temperature and SoC
02:25 – Charging Bottlenecks: Size and Chemistry
03:06 – Charging Bottlenecks: Heat
03:52 – Charging Bottlenecks: Fault Protection
04:25 – Why Faster Isn’t Always Better
05:20 – What Fleets Need Megawatt Charging?
05:40 - Local Delivery Fleets
06:10 – Regional Delivery Fleets
06:43 – Long-Haul Sleeper Fleets
07:35 – Match Charging Speed to the Job
MCS v3.2.svg is by Mliu92 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:MC...
#megawattcharging #megawatt #ev #evfleets #evinfrastructure #evtrucks #evtruck