Albert Heijn Zero Emission Deliveries

Customer Case Study

Albert Heijn Zero Emission Deliveries

2.2 MW
Zaandam, the Netherlands
CCS

©VOR-J. Bollwein, 2022.

Challenge

The Dutch transport sector has set an ambitious target to reduce 7.3 megatons of CO2 emissions by 2030, thus increasing the pressure to find efficient and sustainable solutions for transporting goods.  To drive forward this goal, Albert Heijn has anticipated the governmental goals and start it to introduce been introducing zero emissions zones with smaller vehicles earlier. Moreover,  their goals are to go beyond that and have a fully electric delivery operation. The biggest challenges Albert Heijn is still facing revolve around the interoperability of chargers and vehicles as well as the availability of grid connection for the peak load.

Solution

During this first phase, Heliox installed Heliox installed a 300 KW charger, modified two existing 300 KW chargers with a Smart Switch, and added two liquid-cooled CCS2 columns per charger;

For the second phase of the project Heliox will continue to upgrade the current  charging infrastructure by installing 4x 360kw chargers and 4 x 500-amp columns. This upgrade will enable Alber Heijn to increase the number of eTrucks that could be charged in the Zaandam distribution center and ultimately support their goals of running a fully electric logistics operation.  

The final constructions are planned for December of this year, once completed the Zaandam distribution center will be equipped with a total of 7 DC charging stations with a total power capacity of 2.2 MW.  

Results
Highest Uptime
Zero Emissions
Industry's Quietest

This project was all about collaborative learning every day along the journey towards zero-emissions distribution on a large scale. Currently, there are 15 trucks using the depot on a regular basis, this upgrade on the charging infrastructure will enable Albert Heijn to increase this number in the upcoming future.

The Heliox chargers are fully interoperable, meaning that they work with a wide range of brands and truck types. The current solution can fully charge a truck in between 20 to 25 minutes. This is a crucial step to help the customer to have a fully electric operation by the end of 2022.

Download our electric truck report
Project Description

Heliox and TU/e ​​aim to develop an integrated solution that makes charging heavy electric vehicles accessible without negative consequences for local electricity networks. Together, we want to achieve this by developing and demonstrating a new, multiple and dynamic charging system for heavy electric vehicles that is equipped with software-controlled stabilization to absorb disturbances on the local energy grid.

The intended system will consist of a dynamically configurable charging system based on modules that can be connected in parallel, each with three 60 kW outputs. With this they want to be able to distribute the loading capacity dynamically over several vehicles. The charging system can therefore be used for opportunity charging up to 360 kW for a single vehicle as well as for regular charging of several vehicles.

In addition, smart software and a microcontroller board are being developed. The converter of the charging system can be used via this software to compensate for grid disturbances. The disturbances are neutralized via a low impedance path. This allows losses on the grid to be converted into usable energy, while improving the voltage quality of the grid. In fact, the system completely takes over the function of current power filters on the basis of smart control.

The Dutch transport sector has set an ambitious target to reduce 7.3 megatons of CO2 emissions by 2030, thus increasing the pressure to find efficient and sustainable solutions for transporting goods.  To drive forward this goal, Albert Heijn has anticipated the governmental goals and start it to introduce been introducing zero emissions zones with smaller vehicles earlier. Moreover,  their goals are to go beyond that and have a fully electric delivery operation. The biggest challenges Albert Heijn is still facing revolve around the interoperability of chargers and vehicles as well as the availability of grid connection for the peak load.

During this first phase, Heliox installed Heliox installed a 300 KW charger, modified two existing 300 KW chargers with a Smart Switch, and added two liquid-cooled CCS2 columns per charger;

For the second phase of the project Heliox will continue to upgrade the current  charging infrastructure by installing 4x 360kw chargers and 4 x 500-amp columns. This upgrade will enable Alber Heijn to increase the number of eTrucks that could be charged in the Zaandam distribution center and ultimately support their goals of running a fully electric logistics operation.  

The final constructions are planned for December of this year, once completed the Zaandam distribution center will be equipped with a total of 7 DC charging stations with a total power capacity of 2.2 MW.  

Highest Uptime
Zero Emissions
Industry's Quietest

This project was all about collaborative learning every day along the journey towards zero-emissions distribution on a large scale. Currently, there are 15 trucks using the depot on a regular basis, this upgrade on the charging infrastructure will enable Albert Heijn to increase this number in the upcoming future.

The Heliox chargers are fully interoperable, meaning that they work with a wide range of brands and truck types. The current solution can fully charge a truck in between 20 to 25 minutes. This is a crucial step to help the customer to have a fully electric operation by the end of 2022.

Download our electric truck report