Shaoxing's largest electric truck charging station connects to grid

In Shaoxing, Zhejiang, a new energy heavy-duty truck supercharging station located less than 20 meters from a highway exit was officially connected to the power grid on Oct 14. This station, with a registered capacity of 4500 kilowatts, is currently the largest heavy-duty truck supercharging station in Shaoxing. Equipped with 20 heavy-duty truck charging terminals and 14 light-duty truck charging terminals, it provides fast charging for various type of vehicles.

The significance of this station extends beyond the new facility. For highway freight transportation, which is becoming increasingly reliant on electric power, the large battery capacity and high charging power of heavy-duty trucks make the connectivity and networking of charging facilities crucial for transitioning electric heavy-duty trucks from short-haul, fixed routes to trunk line logistics. The station in Shaoxing provides a model for observing how charging networks can evolve from isolated points to interconnected trunk lines.

The station is strategically located less than 20 meters from the highway exit and adjacent to Kehai Avenue, which leads to the Ma'an Coastal Industrial Zone. Hu Jun, the person in charge of the Yuandong Power Heavy-Duty Truck Supercharging Station, explained that heavy-duty trucks can support dual-gun simultaneous charging with a maximum power of 800 kW. A medium- to large-sized cargo vehicle equipped with a 400-kWh battery can fully recharge in half an hour using dual-gun charging. " These places have particularly high demands on power load," Hu Jun noted.

Behind the high power requirements lies the practical challenge of grid connection. The large single-station connection capacity and concentrated load of heavy-duty truck supercharging stations impose demands on the distribution network's carrying capacity that differ from those of ordinary charging facilities. To ensure the project's timely completion, the State Grid Shaoxing Power Supply Co (State Grid Shaoxing) conducted an early assessment of connection conditions, implemented load diversion on overloaded lines, optimized the network layout, and reserved capacity margins for the integration of charging facilities.

Yellow Yang, a staff member of the Qi Xian Power Supply Subdivision of the State Grid Shaoxing, stated that they transferred the load from the 10 kV Yang Pan line to the 10 kV Yang Lyv line, freeing up sufficient capacity margins for the supercharging station. Additionally, by setting up the power connection point at the station entrance, the company saved the enterprise nearly 800,000 yuan ($119,000).

From a planning perspective, the station helps strengthen the layout of Shaoxing's heavy-duty truck charging network. In September, the State Grid Shaoxing, in collaboration with local government departments, released Zhejiang province's first county-level integrated heavy-duty truck charging network layout implementation plan. The supercharging station that was recently connected to the grid is one of the first batch of stations to be implemented following the release of this plan.

As of October, Shaoxing has operated 19 heavy-duty truck charging stations and 113 standard charging piles, forming a heavy-duty truck charging service network covering major cargo transport corridors and logistics parks. According to the Shaoxing City New Energy Heavy-Duty Truck Scale Application Implementation Plan, by 2030, the city will have over four zero-carbon highway transportation corridors, over five zero-carbon transport lines, more than 70 new energy heavy-duty truck charging stations, and over 700 high-power charging piles.