Heliox Powers Next-Level Charging of E-Trucks at Distribution Center Albert Heijn

Best, 6th of January 2020: The Dutch transportation sector is challenged by an ambitious target to save 7,3 megatons of CO2-emissions by 2030. Partners DAF Trucks, Peter Appel Transport, Simon Loos, TNO, VDL, Albert Heijn (AH), and Heliox have joined forces to create solutions that work on sustainable future solutions for e-trucks to enable transportation with zero emissions well-to-wheel.

The so-called “Demonstration policy for climate technologies and – innovations in transportations” (DKTI) is a Dutch subsidy program that supports pilot projects for sustainable transportation solutions. The above-mentioned partners have concocted a unique field trial that demonstrates the use of electrical and plug-in hybrid trucks for Zero Emissions supermarket distribution in inner cities from the AH’s Distribution center in Zaandam. A key supplier of the charging infrastructure, Heliox, has been working within the consortium since 2017. Albert Heijn is the largest supermarket chain in the Netherlands and has a market share of around 35%.  

For the latest add-on, VDL has installed one 300 kW charger and modified two existing 300 kW Heliox chargers with a Smart Switch and two liquid-cooled CCS2 columns per charger. Noteworthy is the fact that the charging installation is connected to thousands of solar panels which are situated on the roof of the distribution center.

The advantages of the newly installed charging system are evident:

• Liquid-cooled charging cables reduce the charging time of e-trucks by half. In the previous situation, charging the battery from 0 to 100% took 70 minutes. Now it only takes 35 minutes and since the battery is never driven to the minimum of 0% during operational use, it is expected that the average charging time will be below 30 minutes. The driver’s waiting time for the truck’s battery to charge is thereby minimized and make sure delivery schedules can be optimized.
• Renewable energy is used to charge the e-trucks, making it a sustainable solution.

“The transformation of the transportation sector is well underway”, says Koen van Haperen, CCO of Heliox. “Heliox’s experience in designing, developing, and implementing charging infrastructures for e-buses has helped tremendously in this and other pilot projects for e-trucks.  We are grateful that we are at the forefront of the energy transition for e-buses and e-trucks.”

“This project is all about collaborative learning every day to pursue the way towards zero-emissions distribution on a large scale. The step to 300 kW charging with a liquid-cooled installation is crucial for our highly intensive process to supply supermarkets 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. In this process, we want to prevent long waiting times for drivers because of recharging the batteries of their trucks. Now we are a big step closer to that target” says Peter Leegstraten, Manager Transport Expertise of AH.

Heliox is further pushing the limits of e-mobility to contribute to a sustainable future for the next generations.