Barriers and Enablers for MCS
While completing his Bachelor thesis at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Pjotr Visser spent several months at Cenex NL studying Megawatt Charging Systems (MCS) – high power charging primarily meant for long haul heavy duty vehicles. This work culminated in a final report, titled “Barriers and Enablers for the Implementation of Megawatt Charging Systems”, available to download below.
Pjotr brings his background in Science, Business and Innovation to identify barriers and enablers for MCS. The data collected includes literature studies, interviews with stakeholders and the many lessons from various national trials that were presented at the European Truck Charging Symposium in Berlin, September 2025.
Technical challenges include grid congestion and lack of digital infrastructure to plan and book charging slots. Low utilization and high costs of peak power use present economic barriers to adoption. A key policy gap is the lack of recognition of MCS in the European AFIR (Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Regulation), making it difficult to make national and European MCS-specific targets.
Enablers for widespread MCS adoption address these “pain points”. These include stationary storage for alleviating grid congestion, booking or reservation systems which are centralized and easy to use and streamlining of grid connection procedures to speed up roll out. These recommendations are targeted primarily at CPOs and policy makers, where the focus of the research was.
After travelling around South-East Asia for several months, Pjotr will continue his educational journey at the Delft University of Technology, where he will join a Master programme in Complex Systems Engineering focusing on transport and logistics.
