Milence opens truck charging hub with four MCS chargers in Belgium

Milence brings its 39th charging hub online. The location in Temse is now the joint venture's fifth truck charging park in Belgium. In addition to four CCS charging points with up to 400 kW of charging power, Temse also features four megawatt charging points capable of delivering up to 1,500 kW.

Image: Milence

According to Milence, the new location marks a key node on a TEN-T corridor running from the North Sea to the Mediterranean. Temse is situated between Antwerp and Ghent, right in the heart of Belgium’s largest port and logistics region. Truck drivers will find eight charging spots on-site: four of these are equipped with chargers offering both MCS and CCS connectors, while the remaining four provide CCS-only charging.

Importantly, Temse is Milence’s fourth site in Europe to feature MCS technology. However, while the other three locations (Antwerp, Zwolle, and Landvetter) each offer only one MCS charger with up to 1.2 MW, the new Belgian charging park has four MCS chargers with up to 1.5 MW – making this a first for Milence at this scale. The systems in question are megawatt charging systems from the Spanish manufacturer Power Electronics. In the future, Milence will also deploy MW chargers from its hardware partner Alpitronics.

Regardless, drivers can use sanitary facilities on-site during charging. Milence also states that vending machines and outdoor seating are available. In terms of pricing, charging rates in Belgium start at €0.379/kWh (excluding VAT) for ad-hoc charging (for both CCS and MCS). Customers can also enter into volume-based agreements with Milence to access lower rates.

Milence now has 39 charging hubs operational across Europe, with eleven more under construction. “The opening of our fifth charging hub in Belgium marks another step in the development of a reliable European charging network for electric trucks,” emphasised Lars Minekus, Regional Manager for the Nordic countries, Benelux, and the UK at Milence. “With Temse, we are not only strengthening an important logistics connection between Antwerp, Ghent and the rest of Europe, but also actively contributing to the further development of megawatt charging.”

With this reference to advancing megawatt charging, Minekus points to Milence’s participation in the MACBETH project. The new charging hub in Temse will be incorporated into this initiative. As part of MACBETH, multiple industry partners are collaborating to address the technical, societal, and economic challenges associated with the large-scale deployment of megawatt charging systems.