Megawatt Charging System for Electric Trucks a Step Closer

An international high-speed charging standard for heavy-duty electric trucks is a step closer to reality.

The United States and the European Union agreed to “a shared vision on a standard for charging electric heavy-duty vehicles,” during the recent meeting of the Trade and Technology Council in Sweden.

In a White House statement outlining this and other accomplishments at the TTC meeting, the administration said the agreement includes recommendations from a longstanding collaboration between the EU’s Joint Research Centre and the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory.

“We recognize the Megawatt Charging System (MCS) adoption by IEC, SAE and ISO for the charging of electric heavy-duty vehicles, where the alignment of our approaches to standardization will be critical for the roll-out of dedicated recharging infrastructure,” said the White House statement.

Both sides applaud efforts toward compatibility of physical connectors (plugs) and a common vehicle-to-grid communication interface for all power levels, they said, “recognizing that additional solutions may be possible among private sector operators.”

The U.S. and EU said they will continue to work together to develop a transatlantic test procedure for high power-charging, up to MCS levels, assuring interoperability and system charge performance.

“During our meeting in Luleå, we displayed the MCS physical connector as well as a truck and recharging station — a visible proof of this success,” the White House statement said, nothing that this cooperation also paves the way for possible MCS applications in inland shipping, marine, mining, and aviation sectors, among others.

A few weeks ago, Scania announced it had successfully installed and tested a pilot MCS from ABB E-mobility, noting the technology will cut charging time for heavy-duty vehicles in half.

The initial testing, to prove the technical viability of high current charging, is a step toward the progressive deployment of high-power chargers. This is a charging standard that Scania and ABB E-mobility have been developing in collaboration with CharIN (Charging Interface Initiative), a German-based non-profit charging initiative.