Currently, 101 partners drive to our central hub (ZUB) every night, most of them still using diesel trucks. However, shortages of oil and gas are making a switch to alternative powertrains an attractive option, not least to meet climate targets.
Let’s now look to the future. Imagine if all 101 trucks were to run on electric power for the line haul of the journey to the ZUB. What would an e-charging infrastructure at our central hub then need to be capable of?
A bit of maths. Depending on the make, model, route and weather conditions, an electric truck can cover up to 500 kilometres without needing to recharge. That would mean that all OSL partners within a radius of approximately 220 kilometres could easily make a return journey without needing to recharge at the ZUB. Even electric trucks that have a longer journey to the central hub would not necessarily need to be fully charged there – a top-up would suffice. Taking all this into account, we need a charging park with 22 charging points at the ZUB to charge the partner trucks.
We have already secured an exclusive 1-megawatt connection capacity for this purpose. To illustrate: this allows 48 trucks to be fully charged or a correspondingly higher number of trucks to be partially charged each day.
To supply all electric trucks at the ZUB with enough power to ensure they reach their next destination safely, the daily demand is determined and charging is controlled via highly flexible software.
This is still a long way off. However, according to current plans, this charging infrastructure at the central hub of our general cargo network is set to become a reality as early as 2028. During the transitional period, OSL partners coming from the south can charge their electric trucks on the A7 at the Fulda Nord truck stop; OSL partners from the north will use the Niederaula truck stop for this purpose. Both electric charging stations are located approximately 16 kilometres from the central hub in Schlitz.