Funding programs explained simply: Setting up company-owned charging infrastructures for e-trucks

Bastian, electric cars are already the norm, but there are still hardly any electric trucks - or is that a misleading impression?

Bastian Ritter: If you look at the figures from the Federal Motor Transport Authority, you can see that there are already over 6,000 medium and heavy-duty electric commercial vehicles on the roads in Germany. This means that over 6000 vehicles with a gross vehicle weight of over 3.5 tons are already powered by batteries. However, this only corresponds to a share of around 0.7 percent and still represents a clear minority. So your impression is correct. Compared to hydrogen trucks, however, electric trucks are clearly ahead. There are currently only 80 of these trucks in Germany.

The funding program "Non-publicly accessible charging infrastructure for e-road freight transport in Bavaria" is intended to make truck traffic more sustainable. What exactly is being funded?

Bastian Ritter: The most important information is already in the name of the funding program: funding is provided for charging points that are not publicly accessible. Only company-owned vehicles or vehicles belonging to an affiliated company may be charged at these points. On the one hand, funding is provided for the grid connection, which usually incurs high costs, especially for the power required for heavy-duty transportation, as well as for any associated buffer storage. On the other hand, the construction of the charging infrastructure is also subsidized. This includes the charging station and power units themselves, but also civil engineering and foundations, load management, installation and commissioning, as well as lighting, collision protection and parking lot markings, for example.

An "innovative additional criterion" can also be applied for and funded. This applies, for example, to services that contribute to increasing energy efficiency or optimizing the charging process and are not yet standard on the market.

How high can such a subsidy be? And is there an upper limit for the subsidy?

Bastian Ritter: Companies receive a maximum subsidy rate of 40%, small and medium-sized enterprises even 50%. The maximum upper limits are based on the power of the charging point: a charging point that can tap up to 100 kilowatts of charging power is subsidized with up to 10,000 euros. Charging points between 100 and 500 kilowatts of charging power are subsidized with up to 20,000 euros. From 500 kilowatts of charging capacity, a subsidy of up to 100,000 euros per charging point is possible. This is then usually a so-called "megawatt charging system" charging point, which is also significantly more expensive to purchase.

With regard to the subsidization of the required grid connection, the following can be stated. Up to 10,000 euros are available for the grid connection to the low-voltage grid. For low-voltage connections with buffer storage, connections to the medium-voltage grid or to the high-voltage grid, applicants can even receive subsidies of up to 100,000 euros.
The implementation of the aforementioned innovative additional criterion can also be funded with up to 20,000 euros. In total, each funding project can be subsidized with a maximum amount of 250,000 euros.

Can all companies apply or are there restrictions?

Bastian Ritter: In principle, all commercially active companies with a branch or permanent establishment in Bavaria can apply to us for funding. However, the companies must be active in the road freight transport sector. "Operating in the road freight transport sector" means that not only pure freight forwarding companies can submit applications to us, but also, for example, construction companies that have their own fleet of vehicles or waste disposal companies, as they generally all transport goods on public roads.

Alexander, you have decided to electrify your vehicle fleet. Why? And does it even pay off?

Alexander Wehr: Everyone talks about sustainability, about the future of our children, but too little is still being done. That's why we decided to make a contribution. The great thing is: it also pays off! We generate the electricity from our own solar systems and save on vehicle tax and tolls. The grants from the subsidy program also help us, of course.

By when should all the trucks be "converted"?

Alexander Wehr: We plan to convert 90 percent of our fleet to electric by the end of 2025 and the remaining 10 percent in the following year. That would be 28 trucks.

What else are you doing to make your company more sustainable?

Alexander Wehr: I've been driving electric privately for twelve years and was one of the first Tesla drivers in Lower Franconia. Apart from two buses, we no longer have any cars with combustion engines in the company. We also have our own solar panels. Overall, we are trying to become as green as possible.

How did you find out about our funding program? And was the application process complicated?

Alexander Wehr: We became aware of the subsidy program through our contact at the Mercedes-Benz truck division. He advised us and filled out the application with us. It was relatively simple, straightforward and completed within five minutes.

And to what extent has or will the funding program help you to implement your plans?

Alexander Wehr: The financial support naturally helps us to implement our plans. We've also met lots of interesting people and expanded our network.

Would you recommend our program to others? Or is there anything we could improve?

Alexander Wehr: I would recommend your program at any time and have already done so many times.

Bastian, there will soon be a new edition of the funding program, right?

Bastian Ritter: That's right. We assume that the Bavarian Ministry of Economic Affairs will make the corresponding funding available at the end of the year. This means that we will probably be able to launch the second call for the program at the end of this year, so that funding applications can be submitted to us again.

How satisfied were you with the response to the first call for funding, to which Alexander also applied?

Bastian Ritter: We were very satisfied. It was the first call for funding in the field of e-road freight transport that we handled at Bayern Innovativ. We received numerous applications and in the end we were able to send out funding decisions for a total of 30 projects. Four million euros in funding will be made available for these projects, which will be used to set up 86 high-performance charging points at Bavarian locations over the next 18 months.

Do you have any tips for potential applicants?

Bastian Ritter: Not really a tip, more of a hint. The ranking of applications is based on the environmental impact, which is defined here by the diesel savings per charging point during the three-year minimum operating period. It is therefore important to calculate as precisely as possible how many e-trucks are to be used in the future and replace diesel trucks and how many charging points are required before submitting an application. This is because the value "diesel savings (in liters) per charging point" is ultimately decisive for the application ranking and thus the allocation of funding,

Finally, I have an expert question for both of you: will electric trucks replace combustion engines in the long term and if so, why?

Alexander Wehr: In the long term, electric trucks will replace combustion engines because it is simply economical, provided there is a network of charging infrastructure points at reasonable prices. The entire industry also wants to become greener.

Do you have a prediction as to when that will be?

Alexander Wehr: That depends on how quickly the manufacturers can produce. Some manufacturers assume that the proportion of e-trucks could be 60 to 70 percent.

Bastian, what do you think?

Bastian Ritter: I have a similar view. The Bavarian state government is pursuing an open-technology approach, which means that other alternative drive systems such as hydrogen or e-fuels should also play a role alongside battery-electric mobility. Nevertheless, we at the Bavarian Electric Mobility Competence Center already see today that the future belongs primarily to battery-electric mobility, especially in the truck sector. There are many reasons for this. Firstly, there are the TCO costs in the haulage industry, which are simply the lowest for battery-electric vehicles because the electricity can be charged directly into the vehicle. The manufacturing costs for batteries are also continuing to fall, which means that battery electric vehicles will also become increasingly cheaper in the future. What's more, manufacturers are being forced to further reduce CO2 emissions due to the statutory truck fleet limits. In 2030, a reduction of 45 percent compared to the reference year 2019 is already to be achieved, which cannot be achieved through the further development of the combustion engine. Manufacturers must therefore significantly increase sales of CO2-free vehicles and are therefore deliberately focusing on battery electric vehicles, especially in the heavy commercial vehicle sector. Legislators are supporting the purchase of CO2-free commercial vehicles through the truck toll, among other things, so that CO2-free vehicles already enjoy significant cost advantages on toll roads.

The interview was conducted by Barbara Groll, Marketing at Bayern Innovativ GmbH.

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