EVwire brief: PragmaCharge has opened its first UK heavy-truck charging hub at James Kemball's Felixstowe Mega Distribution Centre, with eight Mercedes-Benz eActros 600 trucks now running regional container operations from the site.
James Kemball, a container transport operator that is part of GB Global, is PragmaCharge's first UK customer for its Electric Trucking-as-a-Service (eTaaS) model, which bundles electric trucks, charging, fleet software and operational support into one predictable cost per mile with no upfront investment. The hub sits minutes from the Port of Felixstowe, the UK's busiest container port, with two 360 kW chargers feeding six dispensers so six trucks can charge at once.
PragmaCharge announced the launch on LinkedIn:
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The eActros 600s, delivered by Euro Commercials, will handle regional container moves within a 250-mile round trip of Felixstowe, covering routes across Essex, Hertfordshire, Northamptonshire, Norfolk, Suffolk, Kent and London. PragmaCharge expects the fleet to cover around 560,000 miles a year, avoiding roughly 242,000 liters (about 63,900 US gallons) of diesel and 600 tonnes of CO2 annually.
PragmaCharge led the project from start to finish, from shaping James Kemball's electrification strategy to securing UK Government Depot Charging Scheme funding, and it now operates the hub, with Envevo delivering the charging infrastructure. Its software handles charge planning, energy management, pre-dispatch route validation and predictive monitoring, with charging scheduled around driver rest breaks and between shifts.
James Kemball Group Transport Director Gordon McCormick said the eActros 600s mark the company's first electric trucks, and that the project gives it a way to test the case for electric freight:
"The introduction of our first electric trucks represents an important milestone for James Kemball and demonstrates our commitment to exploring practical solutions that support the decarbonisation of freight transport. [...] With PragmaCharge leading the delivery and ongoing operational support of the project, complemented by Envevo's charging infrastructure expertise, we have established a strong platform that will allow us to evaluate the operational, environmental and commercial benefits of electric freight transport while continuing to deliver the service standards our customers expect."
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Context:
Felixstowe is PragmaCharge's second hub launch in less than a month. On September 25, PragmaCharge and Prologis launched operations at a 12,500-square-meter (about 134,500-square-foot) heavy-truck charging hub at MercaValencia, near the Port of Valencia, opening with 14 charging ports live as Spain's largest dedicated electric heavy-truck charging hub. At full build-out, the site will have 50 high-power ports on a 4 MW grid connection, with completion targeted for 2027.
The Valencia hub runs on the same eTaaS model now arriving in Felixstowe, with Prologis owning the facility and PragmaCharge operating it. Its first customers, Spanish haulers Logística Carosan-Transnugon and Grupo Torres, run electric trucks on routes linking Valencia with Madrid, Castellón and Alicante, with Grupo Torres also using the hub for container runs out of the Port of Valencia.
Source: PragmaCharge, PragmaCharge on LinkedIn
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