The energy company E.ON is piloting a reservation system for charging points for electric trucks. The aim is planned charging without waiting time and better alignment with legal rest periods, according to the company. The first reservable charging columns are located at the MAN Service Center Karlsfeld near Munich, close to the A99. Further locations are to follow; in the long term a nationwide coverage is planned. The project is aimed at fleets from road freight transport. E.ON collects operational data with transport companies for this purpose.
Online booking of the charging stop with a 15-minute tolerance
Dispatch or the driver plans charging stops before or during the trip. The start time is booked in a web app, including a 15-minute tolerance before and after the slot. The charging point is exclusively blocked in the reservation window. On-site, the charging column is unlocked
in the app. Unused bookings expire after the grace period. In case of traffic jam or route change, the reservation can be adjusted at short notice.
E.ON's approach aims to reduce idling time and achieve more stable delivery windows. Companies could thus tighten rest periods and energy needs, as stated. This would facilitate the deployment planning of electric semi-trailers and distribution vehicles. At the same time, the utilization of charging infrastructure would increase. The benefit mainly accrues at hubs with high truck volumes. There, every minute of handling counts.
„A central challenge for transport companies and professional drivers in switching to electric trucks is planning the charging stops. Orders and delivery times are tightly scheduled in logistics, so vehicles should not stand idle any longer than necessary. Our reservation system is intended to solve exactly this challenge,“ said Arjan van der Eijk, Managing
Director at E.ON Drive Infrastructure.
By booking charging points in a forward-looking way, one ensures that electric trucks will not have to wait for an available charging station in the future — at the same time, it enables drivers to charge during their statutory rest breaks.
Co-Innovation project with UnternehmerTUM at the Technical University of Munich
Parallel, a co-innovation project is running at the UnternehmerTUM startup center of the Technical University of Munich. The focus is the integration of further partners via technical interfaces. The goal is an open, scalable system with many charging-point operators from the truck sector. This should create a wide-ranging reservation offering for electric trucks.
"In collaboration with UnternehmerTUM, the integration of additional partners and solutions via technical interfaces, i.e., APIs, should be advanced above all. The goal is the joint development of an open, scalable reservation system that,
in the long run, includes a multitude of charging-point operators from the truck sector to provide a nationwide reservation offering for electric truck drivers," said Lioudmila Simon, Vice President E-Mobility Innovation at E.ON Group Innovation.
Public charging points: EU funding for the DRIVE-E project
Anfang 2025 hatte ein von E.ON geführtes Konsortium rund 45 Millionen Euro EU-Fördermittel für das Projekt „DRIVE-E“ erhalten, das bis 2027 rund 1.400 öffentliche Ladepunkte in 13 EU-Ländern schaffen soll. Darunter sind 430 Ladepunkte mit mindestens 350 kW speziell für schwere Nutzfahrzeuge. Gemeinsam mit den Partnern ZSE und Eldrive baut E.ON ein Netz entlang zentraler Güterverkehrsrouten auf, das sowohl Lkw- als auch Pkw-Standorte umfasst und bestehende Infrastrukturlücken schließt. Die über 250 geplanten Standorte liegen unter anderem in Deutschland, Österreich, Italien, den Niederlanden und Osteuropa. DRIVE-E wird im Rahmen der EU-Initiative AFIF II kofinanziert, die den Ausbau der Ladeinfrastruktur im
