Europe’s electricity industry regards electric vehicle fleets of all classes as important potential sources of grid flexibility that could create a revenue stream for fleet operators, with heavy commercial vehicles emerging as particularly promising partners. That was the message from the EVision conference, held on 5–6 March at Brussels’ Autoworld Museum and organised by European electricity industry group Eurelectric, which brought together EV and power sector representatives to explore electrification, smart charging, and fleet-grid integration.
Senior Principal Yasmin Assef of consultancy AFRY told delegates that it was time to “unlock the flexibility that Europeans own and drive every day” to help limit the cost of grid investment. “Europe is sitting on a flexibility giant and it has wheels,” she said, adding that “trucks are the real bonus,” and that many move on well-defined routes at predictable times, while operating companies “care deeply about TCO [total cost of ownership] and emissions”.
When looking beyond the vehicle to how it interacts with the electricity network, aspects of the heavy commercial vehicle model are familiar to an industry accustomed to running a fixed cable network. Many trucks operate within a small number of freight corridors, analogous to fixed lines, while charging hubs are at predictable locations. Although the grid’s capacity must increase to accommodate higher power volumes, trucks are “reliable, predictable and controllable and therefore dispatchable”, Assef said — a crucial term meaning the system operator can manage power demand directly or indirectly.
Other speakers reinforced her perspective. Adrien Dedieu, global strategy director auto-mobility at DHL, said the company operates 100,000 vehicles, of which 30,000 are electric. He explained that the first priority is meeting their own energy needs: “We are now generating as much as possible [using PV and wind turbines] for our own use.” But he also highlighted future revenue potential: “There is potential in future to sell into the grid.”
Steffen Schaefer, head of mobility and transport at AFRY, added that smart charging (V1G) is already a reality: “In the eyes of automotive companies it is highly relevant and we are seeing products come to market. This is on the map for governments looking at energy security.” Dedieu noted that fleets “are a massive energy user” but also represent massive storage potential, requiring business models built around flexibility. DHL’s current fleet already supports smart charging, adjusting charging times to lower-cost electricity and interrupting charging when requested by the grid.
From the network perspective, Madalena Lacerda, business development analyst at Iberia Networks, said distributed assets such as depots or charging stations with multiple HGVs are especially interesting because they connect at predictable points on the local distribution network. Operators aim to match the location of charging stations with system needs.
The usefulness of controllable energy storage was echoed across scales. Julia Souder, CEO of the Long Duration Energy Storage Council, said fleets could form a “great virtual power plant” — a model where many small assets are aggregated and managed as a single unit for the grid, generating revenue.
As for full vehicle-to-grid (V2G), the concept is still largely for the future. Few vehicles are actively connected in this way. Dedieu explained DHL’s vehicles are not currently V2G-compatible and will remain in service for another 10–15 years. Nevertheless, Assef said V2G could eventually “double the size of the cake” for revenue options, emphasizing: “A battery is an asset not a liability.”
The EVision conference underscored the growing collaboration between the transport and electricity sectors, highlighting that fleets are not just moving goods but could also help balance Europe’s energy system while opening new business opportunities for operators.
