15 years. That is how long some UK logistics operators are being told they will need to wait for a grid connection powerful enough to charge an electric truck fleet at their depot.

Not 15 months. Fifteen years.

I have spent most of my career working with logistics and supply chain businesses across Europe, and in that time I have seen plenty of well-intentioned strategies collide with operational reality (anyone remember blockchain…?). But the gap between ambition and infrastructure when it comes to fleet electrification is unlike anything I have encountered before.

The conversation has moved on from “should we electrify?” to “when can we electrify?” And increasingly, the answer depends not on the vehicle manufacturers, but on something far less glamorous… the electricity grid.

The vehicles are ready. The grid is not.

Let’s start with the good news.

Every major European truck manufacturer now offers battery-electric models in series production. Mercedes-Benz’s eActros 600, voted International Truck of the Year 2025, delivers over 500 km of range at 40-tonne gross weight. DAF’s XF Electric won Truck of the Year 2026. Volvo, MAN and Scania all have electric ranges scaling rapidly.

The UK registered 587 zero-emission HGVs in 2025, a 170% increase on the previous year. Across the EU, electrically chargeable truck registrations rose 70% year on year. The Netherlands leads at over 18% electric truck share and Germany dominates by volume. Major fleet operators are moving too. Amazon placed the UK’s largest ever electric truck order with 140+ eActros 600 units. XPO Logistics is running six eActros 600 trucks for PepsiCo. DPD, Royal Mail, Wincanton and DFDS are all deploying electric HGVs.

The trucks exist and the orders are being placed, but can the infrastructure keep up. Right now – the answer’s no.

The 15-year queue and the depot charging dilemma

Over 76% of electric truck charging will happen at depots, not at public chargepoints.

This is what makes the grid connection bottleneck so critical. Most logistics parks were built decades ago for relatively modest power demands: lighting, heating and somerefrigeration. A fleet of 20 electric HGVs charging overnight needs 1 to 2 megawatts and fast-charging that same fleet during daytime turnarounds pushes demand to 3 to 8 megawatts. That is an entirely different order of magnitude from what the local grid was designed to supply.

The UK’s grid connection queue has risen tenfold in the past five years, reaching 125 gigawatts by mid-2025. SMMT chief executive Mike Hawes put it bluntly: “If operators have to wait up to 15 years just to be able to plug them into their depots, there is no case for investment.” Some operators are being quoted £5 million or more per site just for the connection, before a single charger is installed.

This is not only a UK problem. In the Netherlands, over 14,000 companies are on waiting lists for electricity connections, and nearly two-thirds of Dutch logistics properties sit in areas with grid congestion. In Germany, grid connections for new chargers can take up to 24 months. Transport and Environment found that in every country they analysed, grid extension plans underestimate the future demand for truck charging at depots.

Creative solutions are filling the gap

The most innovative operators are not waiting for the grid – they are finding ways around it.

Smart charging and load management are delivering immediate results. At UPS’s Kentish Town depot in London, an active network management system with on-site battery storage allowed the company to scale from 65 to 170 electric trucks using half the grid connection capacity originally specified. AI-powered charging platforms are cutting energy bills by up to 55% and peak demand by 50% at depots across Europe.

Battery energy storage is emerging as the critical bridge technology. At Tritax’s Symmetry Park in Biggleswade, a 2 MW microgrid incorporating battery storage, combined heat and power and rooftop solar delivers energy cost savings while operating independently of grid constraints. UK warehouse rooftops alone have capacity for up to 15 GW of new solar power.

Shared charging hubs are tackling the problem from a different angle. Fleete opened the UK’s largest dedicated commercial EV charging hub at the Port of Tilbury, a 5 MW facility with 16 ultra-rapid chargers serving multiple operators. This removes the need for every operator to build their own depot infrastructure and navigate their own grid connection. In Scotland, the SCALE project is piloting a community-owned shared charging network for freight, designed to make infrastructure accessible to operators of all sizes, not just the largest fleets.

The two-tier property market is already forming

Perhaps the most underappreciated dimension of this challenge is what it means for logistics real estate. JLL’s February 2026 report found that 90% of industrial and logistics companies experienced energy disruption in the past year, and the same proportion said they would pay a premium for sites with reliable energy infrastructure.

Major developers are responding. Panattoni Park Aylesford became the UK’s first logistics park with dedicated eHGV charging. Tritax Big Box REIT launched a “Power First” strategy. SEGRO is rolling out EV charging across its European portfolio. But for older logistics parks without adequate power supply, CBRE has warned that upgrading legacy facilities is often economically unviable.

Grid capacity is becoming as important as location when choosing logistics sites. A facility with insufficient power could become a stranded asset within the life of a standardlease.

Key takeaways for supply chain leaders

• Start with an energy audit, not a vehicle order. Before committing to electric trucks, understand your depot’s current power supply, what you will need, and what it would take to bridge the gap. The grid connection timeline will drive your transition plan more than any vehicle delivery schedule.
  
• Explore interim solutions now. On-site solar, battery storageand smart charging can significantly reduce your dependence on grid upgrades. These are not temporary fixes butare becoming permanent features of modern logistics infrastructure.
  
• Factor power into property decisions. Whether you are renewing a lease or planning a new build, grid capacity should sit alongside location, rent and specification on the evaluation checklist.
  
• Collaborate rather than go it alone. Shared charging hubs and industry consortia reduce the capital burden and avoid duplication. The operators making the fastest progress are working with energy partners, developers and even competitors to pool infrastructure investment.
  
• Engage with the policy conversation. The UK government’s HGV zero-emission vehicle mandate consultation closes in March 2026. This is the moment to make your operational reality heard.

Beyond the hype: final reflections

I have always believed that the best supply chain leaders are the ones who look beyond the headlines and focus on what is actually happening on the ground. And what is happening on the ground with fleet electrification is a story of two speeds.

The vehicle manufacturers have done their job. The trucks are here, they work and the economics are increasingly compelling. But the infrastructure that connects those vehicles to the energy they need is years behind where it should be.

In my conversations with logistics leaders across Europe, this is becoming one of the most pressing operational challenges I hear about. Not because people do not want to decarbonise, but because the practical barriers are far more complex than the sustainability reports would have you believe.

The operators making real progress share a common trait: they are not waiting for the perfect solution. They are starting with what is possible today, whether that is smart charging, on-site solar, battery storage or shared hubs, and building from there. They are treating energy infrastructure as a core part of their supply chain strategy, not an afterthought.

The first question for your fleet transition is no longer “which truck should we buy?” It is “can we get the power to charge it?”

If any of this resonates, whether you are stuck in a grid connection queue, unsure how to phase your fleet transition or trying to work out what your depot infrastructure needs to look like in three to five years, these are exactly the kinds of operational challenges I work on with supply chain and logistics businesses across Europe. Sometimes the biggest value is simply having someone from outside the business help you cut through the noise and build a practical plan.

If you would like to talk through where you are and where you need to get to, send me a message here on LinkedIn and let’s arrange a call.