Quick answer: Most electric truck fleets need one DC fast charger (120-360 kW) per 4-8 trucks plus one overnight AC charging point per 1-2 trucks. A 10-truck delivery fleet typically runs well on 2 DC fast chargers and 5-8 AC posts — a 250-400 kVA connection — because trucks charge sequentially, not simultaneously. The right ratio depends on daily kilometres, shift pattern and battery size, not on a one-per-truck rule.
The most expensive mistake in fleet electrification is sizing infrastructure on the diesel mental model — one pump per truck, everyone fuels at once. Electric trucks charge where they park, for hours they are not working, at power levels the operator chooses. A truck covering 150 km a day in a 106 kWh-pack delivery vehicle needs roughly 90-110 kWh of energy replenished nightly — about 5 hours on a 22 kW AC post, or 40 minutes on a 120 kW DC charger. Multiplied across a fleet, the energy need is large but the simultaneity is small: trucks finish routes at different times, and a load-management system sequences their sessions across the night. The fleets that grasp this spend US$40,000-80,000 on charging hardware for ten trucks; the ones that do not spend three times that and add a substation they never use.
| Fleet Profile | DC Fast Chargers | Overnight AC | Connection Size |
|---|---|---|---|
| Urban delivery, 100-150 km/day, single shift | 1 per 6-8 trucks | 1 per 1-2 trucks | ~35 kVA/truck |
| Construction, 150-220 km/day, single shift | 1 per 4-6 trucks | 1 per 2 trucks | ~50 kVA/truck |
| Two-shift distribution, 250-350 km/day | 1 per 3-4 trucks | 1 per 2 trucks | ~60 kVA/truck |
| Port drayage / 24-7 operations | 1 per 2-3 trucks (or swap station) | supplementary | ~80 kVA/truck |
| Long-haul corridor, 400+ km/day | 1-2 per truck base + en-route | 1 per truck | ~100+ kVA/truck |
The table’s logic in one sentence: the harder the fleet works, the more it leans on DC fast charging and the lower the truck-per-charger ratio. But even the hardest profiles are nowhere near one-per-truck — a 24/7 port fleet runs three tractors per fast charger comfortably because a 45-minute charge serves 8-10 hours of work.
The sizing calculation has four steps and we run it free for any fleet evaluating our trucks. Step one, energy demand: daily kilometres x consumption (kWh/km, from route profile) per truck, summed. Step two, simultaneity: map when each truck is parked — the parking windows define how many sessions must run at once. Step three, charger throughput: a 240 kW DC charger delivers roughly 1,800-2,200 kWh across a night with sequencing; divide fleet demand by throughput for the DC count. Step four, connection size: peak simultaneous draw plus headroom, checked against the site’s service. A worked example — ten KT5M box trucks at 160 km/day: fleet demand ~1,300 kWh/night, one 240 kW DC plus six 22 kW AC posts, 350 kVA connection, hardware cost roughly US$55,000-70,000. The same fleet wrongly sized at one DC per truck: US$250,000+ and a 1.5 MVA connection the utility takes a year to deliver.
Budget figures for planning: AC posts (22-40 kW) run US$3,000-6,000 installed; 120 kW DC units US$35,000-50,000; 240-360 kW DC units US$60,000-90,000; switchgear, cabling and civil works typically add 40-60% on top; grid connection upgrades are the wild card, from trivial (adequate existing service) to US$100,000+ (new transformer and medium-voltage run). The total for a well-designed ten-truck depot lands at US$80,000-150,000 — roughly US$8,000-15,000 per truck, or 10-15% of the fleet’s vehicle budget. Fleets operating in the Gulf can reference the deployment contexts on our UAE market page; the same sizing discipline applies across every market we serve, with local grid lead times setting the project critical path.
One 240 kW DC charger serves 4-8 trucks in typical single-shift fleets, because a 45-60 minute session restores a working day’s energy and sessions sequence across the night. In 24/7 port operations the ratio tightens to 2-3 trucks per charger.
Usually yes for packs up to 140 kWh: a 22 kW AC post delivers ~150 kWh in 7 hours, covering 180-220 km of delivery duty. Trucks with 350-600 kWh packs on 250+ km days need the DC layer for part of their energy.
Typically US$80,000-150,000 all-in: two DC fast chargers, six to eight AC posts, switchgear and civil works. That is US$8,000-15,000 per truck — roughly 10-15% of the vehicle budget.
Yes — sharing is the entire design principle. Load management sequences sessions by departure time and required state of charge, so a ten-truck fleet on a 350 kVA connection charges fully overnight without any truck waiting.
Only for true 24/7 operations above ~10 trucks, or mining duty with no charge windows: swap exchanges a 600 kWh pack in 5-6 minutes. Below that utilisation, depot DC charging is cheaper and simpler.
One 240 kW DC charger serves 4-8 trucks in typical single-shift fleets, because a 45-60 minute session restores a working day’s energy and sessions sequence across the night. In 24/7 port operations the ratio tightens to 2-3 trucks per charger.
Usually yes for packs up to 140 kWh: a 22 kW AC post delivers about 150 kWh in 7 hours, covering 180-220 km of delivery duty. Trucks with 350-600 kWh packs on 250+ km days need the DC layer for part of their energy.
Typically US$80,000-150,000 all-in: two DC fast chargers, six to eight AC posts, switchgear and civil works. That is US$8,000-15,000 per truck, roughly 10-15% of the vehicle budget.
Yes. Load management sequences sessions by departure time and required state of charge, so a ten-truck fleet on a 350 kVA connection charges fully overnight without any truck waiting for a charger.
Only for true 24/7 operations above about 10 trucks, or mining duty with no charge windows: swap exchanges a 600 kWh pack in 5-6 minutes. Below that utilisation, depot DC charging is cheaper and simpler.
Experience across our deployed fleets surfaces five recurring infrastructure errors, all avoidable at the design stage. First, the one-per-truck error already described — sizing on simultaneity that never occurs. Second, under-sizing the switchboard: fleets install for the day-one fleet and pay twice when expansion requires re-digging — always build electrical capacity for the three-year fleet, even if chargers are added later. Third, ignoring the utility clock: grid connection lead times (8-20 weeks in most markets) exceed vehicle delivery times, so the application must be filed at truck order, not truck arrival. Fourth, skipping load management: unmanaged charging turns a 350 kVA site into an apparent 800 kVA requirement — the controller that sequences sessions is the cheapest capacity a fleet can buy. Fifth, forgetting the second charger’s redundancy logic: a fleet dependent on a single DC charger has a single point of failure — two smaller units often beat one large one for the same money.
The positive counterpart is a sizing discipline that costs nothing: measure, model, then build. Measure the duty cycle with real telematics where a diesel fleet exists; model the parking windows and session schedule against candidate charger configurations; and only then sign the electrical works. Fleets that follow this sequence consistently land within 10% of their optimal infrastructure spend, while fleets that skip it reliably overspend by half or undersize and retrofit. The charging depot is a twenty-year asset serving successive truck generations; the hour spent sizing it correctly is the highest-return planning hour in the entire electrification project — and the ratios in this article are where that sizing starts, not where it ends.
Ready to electrify your fleet? Contact Shaanxi Fenghan Trading — authorized Dongfeng EV truck exporter. WhatsApp: +86 153 1943 1311 | Email: sales@fenghan-trade.com | dongfengevtrucks.com
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