UK charging specialist Voltempo is urging fleet operators to use existing electric van demand to make eHGV charging infrastructure commercially viable today, following new Carbon Tracker analysis 1 predicting electric trucks will reach TCO parity with diesel in Europe around 2030 – a tipping point that could trigger a rapid surge in adoption and leave charging infrastructure racing to catch up.
The challenge is a commercial chicken-and-egg problem: fleets need confidence that charging infrastructure will be available before deploying electric trucks at scale, while investment in high-capacity charging is harder to justify without enough vehicles using it.
Voltempo says electric vans can bridge that gap. Demand already exists across the UK’s growing electric van fleets, with 20,132 battery-electric LCVs registered in the first seven months of 2026, up 26.2% year on year.
For fleets whose drivers do not have access to off-street parking and home charging, secure, bookable and cost-competitive charging at truck depots provides an alternative to home and public charging. Those vans can, in turn, provide the utilisation and revenue needed to strengthen the commercial case for eHGV charging infrastructure before electric truck volumes reach scale.
Through Voltempo DepotCharge, truck fleets can make spare charging capacity at their depots available to registered third-party fleets while retaining control over who accesses their sites, improving utilisation and generating additional revenue from infrastructure being put in place for eHGVs.
Payments are managed through Corpay’s fleet payment platform, including Allstar Chargepass, enabling drivers to pay using existing charge cards within a single billing relationship. Voltempo’s intelligent energy management optimises when vehicles charge around lower-cost electricity and available grid capacity, further improving the economics of the infrastructure while reducing pressure on the grid.
Simon Smith, CEO of Voltempo, said: “For fleet operators and infrastructure investors, the challenge has always been the same. Operators need confidence in charging before deploying electric trucks at scale, while infrastructure needs enough utilisation to make the investment work commercially.
“Electric vans can help us break that cycle. They provide genuine charging demand today, while smarter energy management allows us to optimise when vehicles charge, access lower-cost electricity and reduce pressure on the grid.
“That means we can build truck-ready infrastructure ahead of mass adoption and make it commercially viable from day one. As electric truck volumes grow, the charging capability is already there rather than trying to catch up with demand.
“Carbon Tracker’s analysis reinforces why that matters. If the economics of electric trucks tip decisively in their favour around 2030, adoption could move very quickly. We need to be building the infrastructure ahead of that curve, not after it.”
Carbon Tracker’s new Trucking’s Tipping Point report predicts battery-electric heavy trucks will reach TCO parity with diesel in Europe around 2030, after which adoption could accelerate rapidly. The analysis uses outputs from the University of Exeter’s Future Technology Transformations (FTT) model, calibrated with Carbon Tracker’s market, asset and cost data.
The report points to China as evidence of how quickly that transition can happen, with battery-electric trucks increasing from around 1% of Chinese heavy-duty truck sales in 2021 to more than 30% in 2025.
For Voltempo, that creates an immediate commercial opportunity: use the electric van demand that exists across the UK today to make eHGV charging infrastructure commercially productive now, strengthening the case for investment before electric truck demand takes off.
