What is the difference between depot charging and en-route charging?

Depot charging happens at your own warehouse or distribution centre, usually overnight or between shifts, on infrastructure you control. En-route charging happens at public chargers during a trip and depends on how fast the public network is rolled out.

Does my depot need megawatt charging, or is regular fast charging enough?

It depends on your routes. Local and regional fleets that return every night are usually fine with regular fast charging. Megawatt charging makes sense for long-haul fleets with many truck movements and short stops.

How much space does a megawatt charging depot need?

It depends on fleet size. As a reference, Einride's site in Bleiswijk charges six trucks at once with 2,000 kW of combined capacity, a covered charging area and a driver lounge, on around 2,250 sq m. Larger fleets need more.

Depot charging vs en-route charging: only one is in your hands

Q: What is megawatt charging (MCS)?

A charging standard for heavy electric trucks that delivers around 1 megawatt (1,000 kW). It lets a truck recharge substantially during the driver's legally required break, instead of standing still for hours.

02/10/2026 - 3 min read

Electric trucks can charge in two places: at your own depot, or at public chargers along the road. The difference matters because only one of the two is under your control.

In short: depot charging happens at your warehouse, on infrastructure you and your landlord plan and build. En-route charging depends on a public network that is still being rolled out across Europe, on a timeline no fleet operator controls.

That is why most companies serious about electric trucks start with the depot.

Depot charging vs en-route charging at a glance

	Depot Charging	En-route charging
Where	At your warehouse or distribution centre	At public chargers along motorways
How long trucks stand still	One to eight hours or more, between shifts or overnight	20 to 45 minutes, during the driver’s break
Charging speed	Slow to fast, or megawatt charging at busy sites	Fast to megawatt charging
Who controls it	You and your landlord	Public charging operators
Cost predictability	High, the infrastructure is part of your site	Lower, you pay public prices and depend on availability
Who sets the timeline	You, through your site and lease decisions	National grids and public rollout plans

Why the depot comes first

Public chargers matter for long routes. How quickly they appear, however, depends on each country’s rollout, and no single company can speed that up.

The depot is different. It is a real estate decision, on a site you lease or own, on a timeline you agree with your landlord. It is the one part of charging you can plan, size correctly and keep under control.

What is megawatt charging (MCS), and do you need it?

The Megawatt Charging System (MCS) is a new charging standard for heavy electric trucks. It delivers around 1 megawatt (1,000 kW), several times more than a regular fast charger. The goal is simple: recharge a truck substantially during the 45-minute break drivers are legally required to take.

Not every depot needs it. Trucks on local or regional routes usually return every evening and stand still overnight, and regular fast charging covers them well.

Megawatt charging becomes relevant when a depot handles long-haul trucks, many truck movements and short stops, where every minute of charging time counts.

Worked example: the Einride charging plaza

In Bleiswijk, WDP is building the Netherlands’ first dedicated charging plaza of its kind for Einride, a Swedish company running electric and autonomous freight. It shows what a megawatt-class depot looks like in practice.

Six charging points with up to 2,000 kW (2 MW) combined, shared smartly by an energy management system
Five points of up to 480 kW each, and one megawatt point on the new MCS standard
Room for six electric trucks charging at the same time
A 2,250 sq m site with a covered charging area under a wooden roof
All charging points due to be ready for testing by the end of October 2026

It is more than a row of chargers. The roof protects the charging area, the driver lounge gives drivers a place to take their break while the truck charges, and the energy management system divides the available power across six trucks instead of reserving it for one.

What this means for your fleet electrification plan

Designing a depot for fast or megawatt charging from the start avoids an expensive problem later: rebuilding the site once the fleet outgrows it. Einride’s plaza and the battery-backed site at Raamsdonksveer show that power and charging can be planned in from day one.

Before choosing a site for a growing electric fleet, ask three questions. How many trucks need to charge at once? How quickly do they need to be back on the road? And can the site’s power supply handle that today, or only after an upgrade?

Frequently Asked Questions

The takeaway

The depot is the part of e‑truck charging you can actually plan and control. Whether it needs regular fast charging or megawatt charging depends on your routes and how quickly trucks must turn around. Getting that right before you sign a lease keeps a growing electric fleet from outgrowing its own depot.