“HoLa” is being funded by the German Federal Ministry for Digitization and Transport (BMDV) and is the world’s first megawatt charging project. At the time, there had been no mention of charging capacities, however, Alexander Vlaskamp, CEO of MAN Truck & Bus, did underline the decision to focus on battery-electric vehicles: “Only when sufficient green hydrogen and the corresponding infrastructure are available well after 2030 do we expect to use H2 trucks in selected areas of application.” However, the company is going to begin researching the field a bit earlier: In the “Bayernflotte” project, MAN trucks with fuel cell drive systems are to be installed in 2024 at five companies from the logistics and trade to examine their suitability for practical use.įor this purpose, there are already efforts underway in the German consortium: More than 20 partners from industry and science, including MAN and ABB, are working on the high-performance charging project. The truck was already presented in February as a concept, after announcing plans to develop the vehicle in June 2021. While the truck made a solid impression, taking the minister for a spin around the old aircraft halls, the most interesting revelation of the media event was the charging infrastructure the partners want to establish in the near future. In order to be able to achieve its promised daily ranges of between 600 and 800 kilometres suitable for long-distance transport, the MAN electric truck, which will be launched on the market in 2024, already has the technical prerequisites for future megawatt charging, which ABB E-mobility, as a leading global provider of charging solutions, intends to bring to market quickly.

In the runup to this year’s Formula E races at the former airport Tempelhof in Berlin, MAN and ABB made a special appearance together with German transport minister Volker Wissing and a near-series version of the electric truck the company plans to release in 2024.

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