To help customers’ transition to electric transport, Swedish commercial vehicles giant Scania has announced that it has formed a new company named Erinion that specialises in private and semi-public charging solutions.
The strategic move will see 40,000 new charging points installed at customer locations and will strengthen the Scania Group’s e-Mobility offer in the future transport ecosystem.
The new company, Erinion, is founded by Scania to provide solutions for depot and destination charging, with the aim of accelerating electric truck adoption in line with Scania’s purpose of driving the shift towards a sustainable transport system. Erinion’s solutions will empower customers to seamlessly transition to zero-emission fleets with premium uptime. This will be a key factor in fulfilling Scania´s declared ambition for 50% of its sales volume in Europe to be electric by 2030.
Announcing the new company, Scania said industry studies suggest that depot charging will be the primary source of energy for both short and long-distance operations. As a compliment to public charging networks, depot and destination charging offer dedicated charging infrastructure at the customer’s home depot or other pre-defined locations. This has a lot of advantages, Scania added: predictable charging schedules ensuring fully charged vehicles, increased uptime and, ultimately, maximum operational efficiency and cost savings through predictable and stable energy costs that are matched to each customer’s specific operations.
Scania’s tailored solutions
By providing predictable energy costs and tailored solutions for each customer’s operations, depot and destination charging also enable optimised charging power levels and schedules, while improving battery life and overall vehicle efficiency. Also, because depot charging often occurs during off-peak hours, this means lower and more controlled electricity rates, while destination charging can happen on an opportunistic basis while a driver is resting or delivering goods.
Scania said its research, validated by pilot programmes with customers, reveals the potential for significant cost savings with the enhanced charging solutions. Customers can expect reductions in investment needs by up to 50% and operational savings of up to 15,000 Euros per truck each year.
Today, depot charging is becoming increasingly advanced, the truck maker said in its announcement, adding that it goes beyond providing chargers, grid connections and handling installation. With the new company, Scania’s transport customers will be able to take advantage of advanced integrated software and hardware, as well as operational services and support. The purpose-built and modular solutions can be offered as a standard re-seller model (with cash payments) or a hybrid-flexible pricing model that lets customers combine down payments, financial leases and rolling fees for service and maintenance.
Initially, the new company will establish its market presence in Sweden, Norway, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, France and Germany. A global rollout will follow in due course.
Brand agnostic
The brand-agnostic approach ensures that businesses of all types, regardless of vehicle brand, can benefit from Erinion’s charging infrastructure and operational services. Erinion plans to install a minimum of 40,000 charge points at customer locations in Europe until 2030.
Jonas Hernlund, Head of Energy and Infrastructure at Scania Group, explained: “With our solution, customers get peace of mind and can focus on their core business, while a specialised charging unit takes care of the hardware, software, financing and operational services required to operate charging at scale with superior quality and cost efficiency.
Gustaf Sundell, Executive Vice President and Head of Ventures and New Business, Scania Group, added: “In the transition, the transport system will be redefined. Our new depot charging solutions company is a great example of an initiative that will play an important role for our customers in the future transport ecosystem when transitioning to electric transports.”