Technical study · Technical Advisory & Assurance

Planning Heavy EV Charging for South East Queensland

How much public charging heavy electric trucks will need in South East Queensland by 2035, where it should go, what it means for the network, and why early hubs struggle to break even.

Road train on an Australian highway

What the client needed

A state infrastructure agency and a private charging investor were planning public charging for heavy electric trucks across South East Queensland. They needed to know how much charging would be needed, where and when, and what it would mean for the electricity network.

The question they needed answered: How much heavy vehicle charging will the region need by 2030 and 2035, where should it go, and what grid capacity has to be in place?

  • ~73 MWpublic megawatt charging needed by 2035 (central case)
  • 13%utilisation a 4 MW hub needs to break even
  • ~$700kannual network demand charge on a 4 MW hub

What we did

  • Estimated the regional heavy truck fleet and built central and accelerated uptake scenarios for 2030 and 2035.
  • Modelled daily charging energy by vehicle type and duty cycle, split between depots and public corridors.
  • Sized megawatt charging (MCS) for public hubs, and estimated depot charger numbers and peak network demand.
  • Mapped demand onto the main freight corridors: Port of Brisbane and TradeCoast, Logan Motorway and the M1, Ipswich to Toowoomba, and the Bruce Highway.

What we found

About three quarters of the energy will be delivered at depots overnight. The public network is smaller but harder: it has to be in the right places, take B-doubles and connect to the grid at multi-megawatt scale.

The grid connection is the critical path. A 10 to 20 MW hub needs a dedicated connection, often at 33 kV or above, which can take two to four years.

Unmanaged depot charging could add up to 245 MW of evening demand by 2035. Smart charging and on-site batteries can roughly halve that.

At the 3 to 8% utilisation likely before 2030, a 4 MW hub loses up to $1 million a year, mostly from demand charges that apply whether trucks turn up or not.

A battery to cap grid demand lowers break-even to about 11%, but doesn't close the early gap alone. Anchor fleet contracts, a suitable demand tariff or targeted support during ramp-up do.

Line chart of annual profit for a 4 MW charging hub against utilisation, with and without a battery
Profit for a 4 MW public truck charging hub against utilisation, on a standard demand tariff and with a battery capping grid demand.

What we recommended

  • Build the first hubs around anchor fleet contracts, so there is guaranteed use from day one.
  • Stage the network: Port of Brisbane and TradeCoast, Logan Motorway and Yatala first, then Ipswich, Toowoomba and the Bruce Highway.
  • Lodge connection enquiries for first-stage sites now, and design for expansion from the start.
  • Co-locate batteries at hubs to reduce connection size and demand charges, and make managed charging a condition of depot charging grants.
  • Use public funding to bridge early-year losses, not only to fund hardware.

Key assumptions

Regional fleet of about 13,000 articulated and 22,000 heavy rigid trucks (to be checked against ABS data). 2035 central electric share 15% articulated and 20% rigid. 25% of energy from public charging.

Related work

Talk to our engineers

Tell us what you're working on, and one of the people below will get back to you.

Get in touch+61 2 8034 7980[email protected]

Talk directly to

  • Andrew LelliottOperations Director
  • Alistair WardropeTechnical Director

Want to join us? We're always keen to hear from engineers who value strong fundamentals and real delivery experience.

Careers at Amarna