Ancient brewery pioneers electric truck charging tech

The world’s oldest brewery - at nearly 1,000 years - has installed a battery-enabled charging hub for its growing fleet of electric trucks: a move that could pave the way for the electrification of the wider industry, and at a lower total cost than diesel.

The Bavarian State Brewery Weihenstephan, and Delta Charge, a Swedish-German company pioneering charging and battery storage solutions for electric trucks, have jointly inaugurated a fully electrified charging and energy depot at the brewery's logistics hub.

The Weihenstephan depot sits at the intersection of two of Europe's fastest-growing industrial trends: electric truck adoption and on-site battery storage.

The latter is rapidly emerging as the critical enabler that makes it commercially viable in delivering lower costs and greater energy independence and resilience against grid volatility and rising electricity prices.

The brewery was founded in 1040 and now 986 years later has become one of the first major German breweries to operate a battery-enabled charging hub.

Integrated solution

The depot has been designed as a fully integrated energy solution.

Two 150kW ceiling-mounted fast-charging stations draw from a modular battery storage system - starting at 125kW/257kWh and expandable to 375 kW/771kWh as the fleet grows - seamlessly integrating the site's existing 380kWp photovoltaic system. 

Tying it all together is Delta Charge's proprietary AI-powered energy management system, which continuously optimises the interplay between solar generation, battery storage, and truck charging to minimise grid dependency and reduce costs.

The result is a setup that makes electric trucks not only operationally viable, but cheaper to run than their diesel counterparts.

“For almost a thousand years, Weihenstephan has stood for quality, craftsmanship, and responsibility - to our product, our region, and future generations. The electrification of our fleet is a natural expression of that responsibility, and a concrete step on our path to full decarbonisation,” said Josef Schrädler, Director of the Bavarian State Brewery Weihenstephan.

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Setting new benchamarks

The electrification of the commercial fleet marks a further milestone in Weihenstephan's "long-standing commitment to sustainability and environmental protection", reinforcing what the company says is their path toward full decarbonisation and sets a new benchmark for the industry

Robert Winkler, Ministerial Director at the Bavarian State Ministry of the Environment and Consumer Protection, said that from a climate action perspective, with its transition to electric mobility as part of an integrated energy concept the State Brewery Weihenstephan “has embarked on a path that can only be described as exemplary”.

“As a company of the Free State of Bavaria, it is fulfilling its role model function. As the head of the Climate Action Department at the Bavarian State Ministry for the Environment and Consumer Protection, I hope to see many companies follow this example. With the young, dedicated company Delta Charge, the State Brewery has chosen the perfect partner for the implementation of such an ambitious project."

Johannes Kirnberger, Managing Director of Delta Charge said the two companies have “built something truly special together".

"Growing up in Freising, this project is very close to my heart. But what excites me most is that this is only the beginning. This is a model that works - commercially, operationally, and at scale - and we are ready to bring it to logistics operators and industry across Europe."