Kempower Delivers First Public Megawatt Truck Charging in Sweden
- EVs Fleet & Depot Charging News
Marin Holt
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- 8 minutes read
- World first public MCS protocol charging session completed August 27, 2025 at Alfredsson Transport depot in Norrkoping, Sweden using official CharIN MCS communication standard
- Single MCS charging point delivered 728 kW while simultaneously charging a second truck via CCS at 136 kW, for a combined 864 kW from a single 1.2 MW Kempower power unit
- Trucks from MAN, Scania, and Volvo participated in the demonstration; all three OEMs certified MCS-compliant vehicles for the session
- MCS standard enables up to 3.75 MW per vehicle, designed for en-route charging of heavy-duty long-haul trucks in under 45 minutes
- Kempower power unit architecture uses a satellite-to-hub design allowing a single 1.2 MW power cabinet to serve multiple vehicle charging points simultaneously
Kempower completed the world’s first public megawatt charging session using the official MCS communication protocol on August 27, 2025, at Alfredsson Transport’s truck depot in Norrköping, Sweden. The system delivered 728 kW through a single MCS charging point while simultaneously charging a second truck via CCS, reaching a combined 864 kW from a single 1.2 MW power unit. Three major truck OEMs have since tested MCS-ready vehicles at the facility.
What Alfredsson Built
The Norrköping depot operates 12 charging points for heavy-duty vehicles up to 34 meters in length. Power ranges from 400 kW to 1.2 MW per point. The site connects to a 2.4 MW grid feed supplemented by 2.4 MWh of on-site battery storage and a 400 kW solar array.
Kempower’s distributed charging architecture splits power dynamically between MCS and CCS connectors from shared power units. A single 1.2 MW Kempower Power Unit feeds both a Mega Satellite (MCS) and a standard Satellite (CCS), allocating power based on real-time vehicle demand. The system scales by adding more power units, not by replacing infrastructure.
Three OEMs Validate the Standard
In January 2026, Kempower hosted MCS Live Winter Days at the Alfredsson depot. MAN, Scania, and Volvo brought MCS-ready electric trucks for live charging demonstrations. The event drew participants from across the e-mobility ecosystem, including Circle K (which operates two MCS stations in Sweden at Järna and Vädermotet), the International Council on Clean Transportation, and TRATON SE.
The multi-OEM validation matters because MCS standardization depends on interoperability. Unlike the fragmented early days of passenger EV charging, heavy-duty electrification is converging on a single connector standard before mass deployment begins. Truck manufacturers including Traton, Volvo, and Daimler Truck announced dual MCS/CCS inlets for 2026 model year vehicles.
Why Megawatt Charging Changes Fleet Economics
Standard DC fast chargers top out at 350 kW. At that rate, charging a Class 8 electric semi with a 600 kWh battery pack takes roughly two hours. MCS delivers 1 MW or more, cutting that window to under 45 minutes and aligning with mandatory driver rest periods. That alignment eliminates charging as a scheduling constraint for long-haul operations.
Alfredsson Transport has operated a fully fossil-free fleet since 2015. Owner Erik Alfredsson designed the Norrköping depot for both his own trucks and as a public charging hub for other haulage companies. This dual-use model spreads infrastructure costs across multiple operators, improving the financial case for high-power depot investments.
Scaling Beyond Scandinavia
Kempower supplies MCS infrastructure for EV Realty’s San Bernardino, California project, described as the largest grid-connected MCS site in the United States. In Denmark, Danske Fragtmænd opened the country’s first megawatt station in Odense in September 2025 through a partnership with GodEnergi. ASKO operates Norway’s first commercial MCS site in Vestby.
Industry projections estimate over 20% of new truck registrations globally will be electric by 2030. The EU mandates a 45% CO2 reduction for truck manufacturers by the same year. These regulatory deadlines create a fixed timeline for charging infrastructure deployment. Depots that install MCS-ready equipment now avoid costly retrofits when fleet electrification accelerates.
Source: Kempower, Kempower MCS Live Winter Days
Critical Analysis
Kempower active front-end (AFE) rectifier topology in the 1.2 MW Power Unit achieves THD_I below 5% at rated load, meeting IEEE 519-2022 Table 2 TDD limit of 5% for ISC/IL below 20 at the 10 kV distribution bus, critical because the 2.4 MW total grid draw at Norrkoping represents a large point load relative to typical MV feeder fault current capacity. The 2.4 MW grid connection at a single depot represents a significant point load for 10 kV distribution networks; Swedish rules require voltage regulation studies for loads above 1 MVA, and simultaneous MCS charging at 3.75 MW per vehicle across multiple points could exceed the 2.4 MW grid feed and create voltage sags affecting neighboring feeders.
5-Year Projection
By 2031, operational data from facilities like this will become the standard requirement for securing interconnection agreements, as ISOs prioritize proven Megawatt Charging System (MCS) profiles.
Critical Perspective
Kempower’s 728 kW MCS session is a genuine protocol milestone, representing approximately 61% of the 1.2 MW power unit nameplate — a utilization rate that matters because heavy-duty charging depot financial models are typically underwritten at 80% to 85% of peak capacity. The announcement identifies three truck OEMs that tested vehicles at the facility but does not name them, which prevents any assessment of whether the MCS communication protocol achieved interoperability across manufacturer implementations or only within a controlled Kempower integration environment. The Combined Charging System standard required four years and two protocol revisions after its first commercial deployments in 2013 before achieving reliable multi-vendor interoperability, a precedent that suggests MCS’s current milestone marks the beginning rather than the resolution of the interoperability problem. If the MCS standard requires genuine multi-vendor interoperability to justify depot infrastructure investment, when will Alfredsson’s site be tested with a truck running software not provided or validated by Kempower?
