ChargePoint readies for Megawatt Charging wave

Heavy-duty long-haul trucking represents just a fraction of the vehicles on the road at any time but accounts for more emissions than any other vehicle segment. Battery electric solutions could make a huge difference to that equation, but public charging infrastructure has been holding back progress. That’s starting to change as support for the Megawatt Charging System (MCS) gains momentum.

Quick charge, high capacity

These large vehicles require more power than the average passenger car, and it needs to be delivered quickly—fleet drivers have mandatory rest periods but don’t want to sit idle beyond that. The MCS connection is designed for charging at a maximum rate of more than three megawatts (MW) and is widely regarded as the global standard charging connector for large and medium trucks.

“The MCS connector enables more current and more voltage,” says Hossein Kazemi, Chief Technology Officer, Hardware, at charging solutions provider ChargePoint. The current on today’s Combined Charging System (CCS) connectors are limited to 500 or 600 amps, poised to increase to 900-1,200 amps. In comparison, MCS was developed to offer up to 3,000 amps.

“MCS is all about addressing shorter dwell times for Class 6 to 8 trucks,” Kazemi tells Automotive World. “A good many of these vehicles don’t have the advantage of waiting overnight—they need a fast charge. To accommodate that, we started development of the MCS connector in our products.”

ChargePoint recently announced its support for the standard, making the MCS cable and connector available on its Power Link 2000 stations, part of the modular Express Plus DC fast charging platform. The hardware platform was designed to support MCS, so it can augment the power to MW level without issue. ChargePoint will start with an installation at its headquarters in Campbell, California, along with OEM interoperability testing. Installation at its partners’ facilities should begin by the end of 2024, followed by pilot customer deployments in Q1 2025. “We are expecting both Europe and North America to start seeing a lot of these connectors next year,” Kazemi adds.

Power and price

While the promise of three MW remains, MCS will initially deliver up to 1.2MW. “At the moment, Class 6 to 8 trucks are capable of testing on 1.2MW or below,” explains Kazemi. “That will change over time, and we will be scaling our power as the industry grows.”

This capability comes at a cost, though. “The MCS cable connector technology needs more cooling—it’s a single cable carrying a lot of current. On top of that you need more power electronic equipment behind it. It’s going to be pricier,” he concedes.

MCS supports bi-directional charging, but the use cases on the public network may be limited. Most trucks using these locations will be looking for a quick charge to get back on the road, not to feed energy back into the grid. “I imagine this capability is for those trucks with a lot of dwell time, meaning overnight,” Kazemi suggests.

Game-changer

The MCS was publicly launched at the 35th Electric Vehicle Symposium in June 2022. Speaking at the event, Scania’s head of E-Mobility, Fredrik Allard, described it as “a milestone for long-haulage trucks.” For Kazemi, it represents “the first step toward electrifying the commercial trucking industry” and solves “half of the electrification equation for trucking.”

The other half is the vehicles themselves. Today’s global passenger electric vehicle (EV) market contains about 600 different models, but the offering among trucks is miniscule in comparison. “Commercial electric trucks are for the most part still in development,” he adds. “With the right charging infrastructure and vehicles, this segment can transition, but the two go hand in hand—you can’t just have one of them.”

By embracing what promises to become the de facto standard for high current, high voltage charging, ChargePoint is helping realise the vision of cleaner transport. “We’re expecting this standard to become quite prevalent in Europe and North America next year and grow from there,” he adds. While the company is just one player among many in the global charging ecosystem, its reach across North America and Europe is considerable. It claims to be the largest and most open EV charging network in the world and was named the number one charging network provider in 2023 by Navigant Research.

MCS itself simply standardises connector technology; the real game-changer comes in the wider transition to electrified trucking. In Europe alone, road freight contributes 19% of all transport emissions, so transitioning this fleet to electric will mark a huge step towards achieving climate targets. “But first we need the MW charging infrastructure that goes hand in hand with the EV developments,” concludes Kazemi. “Hopefully we can then realise the transition quickly.”