The standard electric trucking has been waiting for
Electric trucks have always had one problem no spec sheet could hide: a lorry that charges for hours is a lorry that isn't earning. That problem now has an official answer. The megawatt charging system trucks were promised years ago — MCS — is finally a published standard, and the first public hardware is already live on both sides of the Atlantic.
The central technical spec, IEC TS 63379, was published in early 2026, as reported by electrive in July 2026. It defines a connector rated at up to 1,250 V and 3,000 A, for a theoretical peak of 3.75 MW. That is not an incremental step beyond car charging — it is another category altogether, designed so a long-haul truck can top up during a driver's rest break, not overnight.
Publication turns megawatt charging from impressive demos into something a fleet can write into a purchase order. Notably, the industry has not waited around.
What the MCS standard actually defines
MCS — the Megawatt Charging System — is the heavy-duty sibling of the CCS plug most European cars use today; our guide to EV charging connector types covers the full family tree. Where passenger cars top out in the hundreds of kilowatts, IEC TS 63379 sets the truck ceiling at 1,250 V and 3,000 A, which multiplies out to that headline 3.75 MW.
Nobody is charging at 3.75 MW yet, and the early hardware does not claim to. The ceiling is set high so future chargers and trucks can grow into it. What operators get today is a single agreed plug — a Scania can use a Kempower charger, and a fleet no longer has to bet its depot on one supplier. If you are deep in fleet charging depot planning, that interoperability is the entire point.
From first session to public stations in under a year
The rollout has been quick by infrastructure standards. Kempower performed the world's first public megawatt charging session in August 2025 at a truck site in Norrköping, Sweden, as reported by Charged EVs. In September 2025, Denmark's first megawatt truck charging station opened in Odense — a joint effort between GodEnergi and Kempower.
Then came the headline act. Tesla opened its first public Megacharger station in Ontario, California in March 2026, delivering up to 1.2 MW per stall to Semi customers.
The UK is on the map too. BP Pulse plans its first MCS chargers at the new Ashford International Truckstop, targeted for 2026. Plans are not sockets, so treat that one as expected rather than done.
The trucks that can actually plug in
Chargers need vehicles to feed. Scania's new electric truck platform supports MCS charging at 750 kW, with orders open from early 2026 and MCS-equipped trucks available from mid-2026, according to Scania. The number is telling: real-world MCS begins well below the spec's ceiling, much as the first 800V passenger cars in our fastest-charging EVs guide arrived before chargers could feed them fully.
Even at 750 kW, the operational maths changes. A charging stop measured in minutes rather than hours brings electric trucks meaningfully closer to diesel-style scheduling, which is the only comparison fleet managers actually care about.
The honest assessment
Megawatt charging is real, public and standardised — that much is settled. Scale is not. A handful of sites in Sweden, Denmark and California, plus a planned UK truckstop, does not make a network, and a 3.75 MW paper ceiling means little while production hardware runs at 750 kW to 1.2 MW. Grid connections of this size are neither cheap nor quick to secure, and IEC TS 63379 is a technical specification — the first formal word, not necessarily the last. The sensible fleet position as of mid-2026: specify MCS on new orders, and keep planning routes around depot charging for a while yet.
The questions buyers actually ask
What is the Megawatt Charging System? MCS is the published international standard for charging heavy electric vehicles, defined in IEC TS 63379 at up to 1,250 V and 3,000 A — a peak of 3.75 MW, far beyond passenger-car CCS.
How fast is megawatt truck charging in practice? Early public hardware runs below the ceiling: Tesla's Megacharger delivers up to 1.2 MW per stall, while Scania's MCS trucks charge at up to 750 kW. Expect those figures to climb as the standard matures.
When can UK operators use MCS? BP Pulse plans the UK's first MCS chargers at the new Ashford International Truckstop, targeted for 2026. Until those are live, megawatt charging remains a continental European and North American story.
Key takeaways
- IEC TS 63379, published in early 2026, formalises MCS at up to 1,250 V and 3,000 A — a 3.75 MW peak.
- Kempower ran the world's first public megawatt charging session in Norrköping, Sweden in August 2025.
- Tesla's first public Megacharger opened in Ontario, California in March 2026, at up to 1.2 MW per stall.
- Scania supports MCS at 750 kW, with equipped trucks available from mid-2026.
- BP Pulse plans the UK's first MCS chargers at Ashford International Truckstop; the network is real but still sparse.
Sources & further reading
- Industry and manufacturer reporting — electrive (July 2026), Charged EVs (August 2025), Scania, Tesla, GodEnergi/Kempower and BP Pulse announcements, 2025-2026
Figures, prices and policy details were current at the last-updated date above. Automotive pricing, incentives and regulations change frequently — verify time-sensitive details with the linked primary sources. Read our editorial policy and fact-checking standards.
