The Traton Group, Daimler Truck and the Volvo Group have officially launched the formation of their joint venture for an HGV electric charging infrastructure in Europe.

The new joint venture (JV)  has appointed Anja van Niersen as chief executive. She will lead plans to install and operate at least 1,700 high-performance green energy charge points on or close to highways, as well as at logistics hubs across Europe.

The network will be open to all battery electric heavy-duty vehicle fleet operators and to all HGVs in Europe, regardless of brand.

The JV members have pledged to committ €500m (£422m) of investment funding in total, which they claim to be "by far the largest charging infrastructure investment in the European heavy-duty truck industry to date."

The JV will act as a charge point operator (CPO) by installing and managing charging stations for heavy-duty trucks and coaches. It will be a self-standing legal entity, operating under its own corporate identity and based in Amsterdam.

The JV added that CEO Anja van Niersen, brings "a breadth of experience from the energy and charging industry sector" where she has most recently served as CEO and later as chairman of the board of a major European electric vehicle charging network provider.

The joint venture is calling on industry players, as well as governments and policymakers, to work together for a rapid expansion of the necessary charging network as well as investing in renewable energy in order to reach Europe’s climate targets.

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Christian Levin, CEO at Traton group, said: “To find the best solutions for the climate challenge is our most urgent priority as an industry and as the Traton Group. When we talk to customers about electric trucks, they always ask: where can we charge? To support as fast as possible, we are teaming up and from today on kick-starting the European charging network. With Anja van Niersen this JV has a CEO with a great deal of experience in setting up charging networks. Anja and her team will support the important journey to enable further progress of sustainable transport.”

Martin Daum, CEO at Daimler Truck, said: “We are very excited to kick off this new joint venture together with our partners. It is crucial that we are now taking the initiative for building up the much-needed charging network. Still, we call on the entire industry to join in our effort. The number of charge points has to increase significantly as fast as possible to make electric long-haul trucking a viable solution for our customers.”

Martin Lundstedt, President and CEO at Volvo Group, commented: “This is a long-awaited and major step towards achieving the required charging infrastructure for the roll-out and success of battery-electric long-haul trucks and coaches. We are making what would be impossible for one actor alone to accomplish - this strong partnership is a significant milestone and accelerator towards carbon neutral transport in Europe by 2050.”

The JV said it will work quickly to scale up operations and network deployment to provide reliable and convenient public charging for heavy-duty vehicles. It added that, as the demand for battery electric trucks and coaches is expected to grow rapidly in the coming years, the team will work collaboratively across industries to design and build charging solutions that match the needs of transport companies and drivers.

It added that more information including the reveal of the brand name will be available during 2022.

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