Automotive Business Magazine – Q3 2026 – Digital edition - Flipbook - Page 55
Q&A
SBRS
In Berlin, we are currently executing a
project of 200 charges in one location,
a green steel depot – 100% electrified –
that comes at a scale and integration,
which we currently have not yet
achieved in trucks. So, you will move
from a few chargers to a whole depot.
Is the charger designed for
fleets to create an efficient
charging schedule?
The concern for fleet managers is
whether the vehicle is going to be fully
charged by the time they use it next.
Then, the question becomes one of
energy pricing: when is a good time to
charge, so they are not paying the most
for the electricity?
At the moment, charging is cheap at
night, but if everyone starts charging at
night, then that will change.
That is why this charger, for example,
has this optionality of being upgraded
to six ports at a lower power level
overnight. When you have six to eight
hours, you can charge six big trucks
with 600 kilowatt hours of batteries.
It has dynamic power balancing, and
it is a development we have made for
this piece of equipment specifically.
Fleets can also choose to let other
fleet drivers recharge at their stations,
which we call the integration of private
and public charging.
A lot of charging moves behind
fences to private premises, more than
fuelling depots. For the obvious reason
of decentralised power grids, more
private charging will happen than
private fuelling.
The reason why we are involved with
private charging in the first place is that
we know that our customers will have
a big demand for it, but we also believe
that the sweet spot is between private
and public charging.
It also allows depot managers and
fleet managers to gain some income
from the investment that they have
made in their charging.
How will this product
continue to develop in
the future?
After customers have ordered it, we
usually give a window of about 12 to
16 weeks for hardware to come in,
but we can move faster if we need
to, depending on the requirements of
the customer.
As you start to install more, it is going
to become a little bit easier, and once
you know what people need, you can
develop it a little bit more if necessary.
So, historically, SBRS equipment could
only be installed by SBRS engineers,
because again, there was a project
angle to it; we would adapt the
technology to the site.
Now this is a product that can be
shipped to a customer with their local
electrician, and they can install it. It is
a question of how quickly you can get
your electrician to do it.
Q2 2026
AUTOMOTIVE BUSINESS
71
