Engie Vianeo’s truck loading dock at Kiel Port opens

A new truck charging park has been opened at the Kiel Seehafen. It features four CCS charging stations, each with 400 kW capacity, providing a total of eight charging points. The port operator Port of Kiel is partnering with the French charging provider Engie Vianeo for this truck charging park, which marks its first location in Germany.

The Port of Kiel aims to use the new truck charging station to make freight transport in northern Germany more sustainable. Approximately 180,000 trucks and trailers pass through the Kiel seaport each year, with diesel powering the vast majority of them. However, the new truck charging station provides a facility for the first time to recharge the batteries of electric trucks. By doing so, the Port of Kiel creates an incentive for transportation companies to adopt electric vehicles.

The First of Many Truck Charging Stations

As reported in October, Port of Kiel selected the charging provider Engie Vianeo to operate the truck charging park. This project also marks the beginning of the French company’s expansion into Germany, where it already operates more than 11,000 charging points across Europe — including 900 on French highways and around 7,000 in Belgium. In Germany, the focus will initially be on truck charging parks, a segment currently occupied by only a few providers such as Milence. In addition to this flagship project in Kiel, Engie Vianeo secured a particularly attractive contract last year from the federal government and the Autobahn GmbH to build 26 truck charging parks as part of an initial network at unmanaged rest areas along Germany’s highways. The company will also establish truck charging parks at service stations owned by the Euro-Rastpark and 24-Autohöfe brands.

"Our goal at Engie Vianeo is to sustainably advance the transformation of heavy transport in Germany and across Europe. That’s why we focus in Germany on locations situated along strategically important transit corridors to specifically promote the development of electric mobility for trucks," says Jan-Niklas Ellerich, Germany head of Engie Vianeo.

In terms of the Kiel Port: It means at the Kiel Port

The East Bank Port, located near the ferry terminal to the Baltic Sea and northern Sweden, now has a truck charging station equipped with four Alpitronic HYC400 units online. As usual, each of these charging stations provides two charging points, allowing a total of eight electric trucks to charge simultaneously. The station features long, accessible truck bays, so that tractor-trailers don’t need to disconnect their trailers, and semi-trucks with attachments can also charge easily. Another location with four charging points is planned at the Norway Quay, from where ferries to Norway depart.

Tobias Goldschmidt, Minister for Energy Transition, Climate Protection, Environment, and Nature of the state of Schleswig-Holstein, said at the official opening of the truck charging park: “We face the challenge together of making our transportation climate-neutral. The Port of Kiel is one of the most important freight ports in the Baltic Sea region, and it is building its new charging infrastructure precisely where there is already a high volume of heavy commercial vehicles today and long waiting times occur. These waiting times can be utilized effectively in Kiel going forward. Projects like this are crucial for a sustainable future. Because the future is electric — even in transportation.”