Decade Energy, founded by former Volta Trucks specialists, says it has assessed more than 1,500 logistics sites since 2024. Its conclusion is blunt: very few are ready for fleet-scale electrification without major investment.
Norden spoke to Trans.info about why grid capacity, leased sites, battery storage and energy-market revenues are becoming central to electric truck deployment.
Casper Norden, CEO & Co-Founder at Decade Energy
Trans.info: You argue that the main bottleneck for electric trucks is no longer the vehicles, but access to energy at logistics hubs. What do you usually find when you assess a depot?
Casper Norden: The most common problems fall into three categories.
First, insufficient grid capacity. Most logistics depots were built in an era when electricity demand was limited to lighting, cooling and office systems. The existing grid connection is typically dimensioned for 200–500 kW. An electric fleet of even 10–20 trucks requires 2–5 MW of secure capacity; an order-of-magnitude step up.
Second, long and uncertain timelines for new grid connections. Depending on the market, securing additional grid capacity can take anywhere from 12 months to several years, with significant administrative complexity. Germany, for example, has 860 distribution system operators.
Third, the absence of a clear investment pathway. A depot owner or operator may want to electrify, but the combined cost of grid upgrades, charging infrastructure, battery storage and solar PV is substantial. Without a model that removes the CAPEX burden, most projects stall at the feasibility stage.
“Very few logistics sites are ready today; grid connection is the most common single blocker”
Trans.info: You have carried out more than 1,500 depot feasibility studies since 2024. How many logistics sites are genuinely ready to support electric truck operations today?
Casper Norden: The honest answer is that very few logistics sites are ready to support electric truck operations today without significant infrastructure investment.
The first thing that usually needs to change is the grid connection. Even where a site has physical space for chargers and batteries, the electrical capacity is almost always undersized for fleet-scale electrification.
The second is the commercial framework. In most cases, there is no established mechanism for financing and operating the energy infrastructure over the long term.
Trans.info: How long does it really take to prepare a logistics hub for electric trucks?
Casper Norden: From first technical assessment to reliable on-site charging, a realistic timeline today is 12 to 24 months for a well-structured project. However, in practice, many projects stretch to 36 months due to grid connection lead times and permitting.
The assessment and design phase typically takes 2 to 4 months. The grid connection application and approval process vary enormously by market. In some regions, it can be resolved in six months; in others, it takes 18 months or more. Construction and commissioning of the on-site infrastructure (battery storage, chargers, and solar PV) adds another 4 to 8 months.
We are focused on compressing this timeline through our front-of-the-meter model, which allows us to secure grid capacity independently and begin battery deployment while the fleet transition is still being planned.
“Leased depots create a classic split-incentive problem”
Trans.info: Many logistics sites are leased rather than owned by the transport operator. How much of a problem is that for electrification?
Casper Norden: The lease structure is one of the most underestimated barriers to depot electrification. A transport operator leasing a site has limited incentive to invest in permanent infrastructure that may outlast the lease term. A landlord has limited incentive to invest in energy infrastructure for a specific tenant’s fleet needs, especially if the payback period exceeds the remaining lease.
This creates a classic split-incentive problem. The result is that neither party invests, and the site remains unprepared for electrification.
Our model is specifically designed to resolve this. Decade Energy leases the surface area from the property owner, finances and builds the infrastructure, and operates it long-term. The property owner receives predictable rental income and a share of the value generated by battery storage participation in energy markets, without any capital outlay. The operator gets secured power capacity and electrification readiness without carrying the investment.
The key is that our infrastructure serves the site over multiple lease cycles. It is not tied to a single tenant’s timeline.
Trans.info: How do you decide whether depot electrification is financially viable?
Casper Norden: The business case depends on the interaction of several factors rather than any single variable. The factors with the largest impact are grid capacity cost and timeline, battery storage revenue from ancillary and energy markets, diesel price trajectory, and available subsidies or capacity-market revenues.
Grid capacity determines the baseline infrastructure investment. Battery storage revenue offsets infrastructure cost and improves the commercial model. Rising diesel prices progressively improve the TCO comparison for electric fleets, although we avoid forecasting specific diesel prices five to ten years out.
What makes our model work is that we do not depend solely on the fleet operator’s electrification timeline. Battery storage generates revenue from day one through market participation before a single electric truck arrives at the depot. This fundamentally de-risks the investment.
“Charging has to follow the depot’s rhythm”
Trans.info: Vehicle productivity is critical in road freight. What kind of charging strategy is needed so that electric trucks do not lose useful working time?
Casper Norden: For electric trucks to work in daily logistics operations, the charging strategy must be built around the operational rhythm of the depot. The most effective approach is overnight depot charging for the majority of energy needs. Trucks that return to the depot in the evening and depart in the morning have an eight to twelve-hour window for charging. That is more than sufficient for current battery capacities if the power infrastructure is properly sized.
For daytime operations, opportunity charging during loading and unloading provides supplementary energy without dedicated vehicle downtime. Battery storage plays a critical role here: it allows high-power charging bursts without creating demand spikes that would trigger peak tariffs or exceed the grid connection capacity.
Vehicle productivity does not need to suffer, provided the infrastructure is designed for the site’s specific duty cycles.
Trans.info: How different are European markets in terms of depot electrification?
Casper Norden: The differences between European markets are significant and shape our expansion strategy. France, our launch market, has a centralised grid structure and growing congestion. Subsidy frameworks are well established. We have more than 100 projects representing over 500 MW in development there, with 50 projects starting construction in 2026.
Germany has 860 distribution system operators, which creates enormous administrative complexity for grid connections. In 2024, €2.8 billion was spent on congestion management in the German grid. Connection queues extend into the 2030s. We have studied around 200 sites, of which 98 are viable, representing approximately 500 MW.
Poland combines rapid solar PV growth with a still-early battery storage market. The capacity market provides long-term revenue visibility, and dedicated subsidy programmes for energy storage are in place. We are developing 10–20 projects there.
The Nordics, particularly Sweden and Denmark, have advanced energy systems but face internal grid congestion, especially in southern Sweden.
“Depot charging will remain dominant”
Trans.info: Public charging for heavy-duty trucks is developing. How much charging do you expect to happen at depots over the next five years?
Casper Norden: Our view is that depot charging will remain the dominant mode for heavy-duty trucks over the next five years and beyond. The operational logic is straightforward. Trucks that operate from a fixed depot return there every day. They have extended dwell times, overnight or during loading and unloading, that are ideal for charging.
Energy economics favour depot charging because it can be optimised with battery storage, solar self-consumption, and off-peak tariffs.
Public charging will play a complementary role for long-haul and corridor operations, but it will not replace depot charging for the majority of logistics use cases. Destination charging at customer sites, distribution centres and ports will grow as a supplement.
A reasonable estimate for 2030 would be that 70–80% of fleet energy needs are met at the depot, with the remainder split between destination and public charging.
“Ask these questions before ordering electric trucks”
Trans.info: For a haulier or logistics operator that wants to prepare now, what are the first questions they should ask before ordering electric trucks?
Casper Norden: The first question is: what is my current grid connection capacity, and what will my peak power demand be when my fleet is electric? The gap between those two numbers defines the infrastructure challenge.
The second is: who owns the site, and what is the remaining lease term? If the operator leases the site, the investment pathway depends on aligning incentives between landlord and tenant, or bringing in a third party like Decade Energy.
The third is: what physical space is available for energy infrastructure (roof area for solar PV, ground space for battery storage, and parking or staging areas for charging equipment)?
Trans.info: Finally, what is the biggest misconception in the market about electric truck infrastructure?
Casper Norden: The biggest misconception is that electric truck infrastructure is primarily a charging problem. People think about chargers: how many, how fast, where to put them. But chargers are a commodity. The real challenge is everything behind the charger: grid capacity, energy storage, generation, optimisation, and the commercial framework to finance it all over 15–20 years.
A charger without sufficient grid capacity is useless. A grid connection without storage cannot handle peak fleet demand without enormous cost. Storage without optimisation software cannot maximise its value. And none of it gets built without a financing model that removes the CAPEX burden from the logistics operator.
