After more than a year of practical research, Rijkswaterstaat, in collaboration with TNO, publishes the first interim report of the Living Lab Heavy Duty Charging Plazas. For the first time, a comprehensive look has been taken at all aspects of public charging plazas for heavy transport: from technology to business case.
The results provide market players, transporters, and policymakers with concrete insights into how public charging of trucks operates in practice. Energy proves to be crucial and accounts for up to 50% of the business case, both due to costs for grid connection and the purchase of energy. At the same time, grid congestion is delaying scaling up because operators do not receive certainty about their connection, although charging plazas also offer opportunities to reduce grid congestion. The report provides practical guidelines for the successful rollout of charging infrastructure.
Findings
The Living Lab has collected detailed data from 6 operational charging plazas (WattHub, Shell, Milence, Truckparking Rotterdam, BAT, and CircleK) over 14 months. This data has been analyzed and interpreted for the first time. These findings emphasize the importance of managing energy, but also provide many insights into charging duration. Trucks currently use only a limited part of their battery capacity. They can usually charge sufficiently within 30 to 45 minutes to drive their route fully electric. The full research focuses on 5 core themes: spatial design, technology, logistics, energy, and business case.
‘Measuring is knowing, but analyzing is even more important,’ says project leader Rob de Groot (Rijkswaterstaat). ‘Together with market players and knowledge institutions TNO and ElaadNL, we have converted practical data into concrete guidelines. These promote the scaling up of charging infrastructure for heavy transport.’
Stress Test
A highlight of the research was a test week with trucks from different brands (DAF, Mercedes, Volvo, Renault). This stress test proves that charging plazas can handle intensive use: 70 charging sessions in 45 hours. That is good for 3,000 km of driving. ‘We now know how we as a municipality can connect smart charging infrastructure to policy and practice. And how to take control in the energy transition,’ says Aard van Weezel (Brabants Afval Team, Tilburg).
Follow-Up Research
The interim report marks the halfway point of the knowledge program Living Lab Heavy Duty Charging Plazas. Monitoring will continue throughout 2026, after which the final report will be published in early 2027. For the participating parties, the project emphasizes the value of collaboration. ‘We greatly appreciate being part of Living Lab and being able to share knowledge with other market players,’ says Gerben van den Berg (WattHub). ‘It gives us a benchmark for where we stand in a market that is on the brink of growth. We are now jointly determining how we should shape the industry: from infrastructure and signage to reservation software. That is the strength of the collective.’
The full interim report is available on our online publication platform .