Nimbnet, a new Swedish charging station operator, and Virta, a Finland-based worldwide charging platform and end-to-end solution provider, are co-operating to establish a charging network for electric trucks.
The pre-bookable truck charging stations are intended to allow Swedish logistics businesses to replace the majority of their present 85,000 heavy trucks with electric vehicles. As part of the agreement, Virta will provide Nimbnet with platform-integrated Kempower charging stations.
“As all the major truck manufacturers are quickly electrifying their fleets and 56% of all heavy trucks travel less than 250 kilometers each day, range is no longer the issue it once was. Most heavy trucks could be replaced with electric ones, but the current charging infrastructure does not yet serve their needs. Nimbnet’s Virta-powered network is designed with their needs in mind from the very beginning,” says Torbjörn Nordling, Project Supervisor at Nimbnet.
The first new Nimbnet charging stations will be erected in Gothenburg, Söderhamn, Sundsvall, and Nordmaling, thanks to funding from the Swedish Energy Agency (Energimyndigheten). Truck drivers will be able to start and finish charging at Nimbnet stations using the Virta Mobile app, RFID tags and cards, credit cards, or even Plug&Charge-compatible vehicles.
“We are more than delighted to see that our end user-facing solutions to serve the heavy-duty markets’ needs of tomorrow are already to be put to real use by forerunners such as Nimbnet. Furthermore, also enabling our customers speed to market via our turnkey-ready plug and play deliveries built around their needs and desires,” says Martin Lundgren, Country Manager for Virta Sweden.
By the end of 2023, they will be ready to accept the first large vehicles for charging. Nimbnet’s goal is to address all of the major geographical gaps so that electric vehicles can service the entire country of Sweden.
