Truck depots face nine year wait for EV grid connections while data centres’ capacity goes unused

The new report, 12 Pillars of Change: Power In, is calling on the government to change how grid capacity is allocated.

The report analysed more than five million half-hourly meter readings from all 96 data centres on UK Power Networks’ distribution network, which serves London, the East and South East of England.

The typical site drew just 18% of the capacity it had reserved over three years, yet places in the connection queue are allocated on the booked figure, not the real one.

Operators, whose trucks mostly charge overnight when the network is quietest, are queuing for grid upgrades behind reservations that are proven to go largely unused, hampering their transition to all-electric fleets, the report warns.

TwentyForty is asking government and the regulator to require electricity networks to offer flexible connections to depots; to recognise freight within the criteria that decide which projects get strategic grid priority; and to give commercial tenants a statutory right to install charging where they pay for it.

The report is accompanied by a companion Operators’ Guide, outlining the immediate actions, that do not depend on policy change, that operators can take with the local electricity network or the open market.

The guide advises operators to get a budget estimate from the network operator before costing chargers or ordering vehicles, because the connection is the longest item on any electrification plan.

It also highlights several facts that operators may not be aware of, for example that a network operator cannot legally refuse to connect a site, and that both the connection quote and date are negotiable.

Furthermore, most reinforcement costs are capped and spread across all bill payers rather than charged to the depot, while flexible connections, which use the network’s quiet hours, can be requested by right.

The guide describes batteries and other behind-the-meter fixes as a workaround for a problematic connection process, not a substitute for fixing it, and warns that some isolated sites will never be able to connect in a way that is economically viable.

Jamie Sands, TwentyForty founder, said: “The grid is handing its scarcest resource to whoever asks for it first, not those that will use it.

“Most trucks charge overnight, when the network is quietest, but depots are waiting in a queue for increased grid connectivity behind reservations for capacity that are pure speculation.

“Government has to fix who gets the power and in what order, and the report clearly puts that case forward.

“However, hauliers cannot put their fleet plans on hold while Whitehall consults.

“The Operators’ Guide covers what hauliers can control today, while the report deals with what they can’t.”

The 12 Pillars of Change: Power In report and Operators’ Guide can be downloaded from the TwentyForty website.

TwentyForty has also created a chat tool, so that users can find specific information and get early advice based on the report and Operators’ Guide.

The report draws on a workshop held in May 2026 attended by 13 key representatives of the electricity network, energy system, freight and property sectors.

Participating organisations included UK Power Networks, the National Energy System Operator, SEGRO plc, Energy Systems Catapult, Portsmouth International Port and Welch Group, with follow-up interviews including National Grid Electricity Distribution.

The research behind the report analysed the utilisation of all 96 data centres on UK Power Networks’ distribution network, using 5,390,364 anonymised half-hourly readings from January 2023, published under UKPN’s Presumed Open data policy.

UKPN’s own pre-publication assessment, dated February 2025, anticipated that the data would show most data centres do not use the capacity they request.

Across the sites analysed, booked capacity overstates measured demand by roughly five to one, the analysis found.