“Heavy electric trucks can rely on the same public chargers as passenger cars”

Passenger-car ports do not form a truck network by themselves

The physical connector is only one part of truck access. A Class 8 tractor with a trailer needs enough space to enter, align, connect, and leave; a site designed around short passenger cars may not provide turning room, canopy clearance, or pull-through stalls. It also needs enough electrical power for the truck's battery and schedule. FHWA's NEVI requirements do not by themselves guarantee a pull-through layout for commercial vehicles; NREL notes that FHWA encouraged states to consider circulation and oversized-vehicle access in site design. ^[1]

What the official accessibility snapshot can establish

NREL examined AFDC Station Locator entries dated October 2, 2024. Among 83,414 open station locations, 13,275 were classified as light-duty accessible, 526 as medium-duty accessible, and 162 as heavy-duty accessible. Planned locations were listed separately. The table includes both public and private sites, and its unit is a station location rather than a charging port. ^[1]

Those numbers need a large qualification: the locator had a reported maximum vehicle class for only 16% of open locations. The remaining 69,451, or 83.3%, had no vehicle-class report. AFDC asks station contacts whether a vehicle can fit, considering features such as canopy height and turning radius. The 162 therefore shows how many locations were affirmatively identified as heavy-duty accessible in that dated snapshot. It is not the total number of truck-compatible sites, and it cannot tell a carrier how many public high-power ports are available today. ^[1]

Power, plug, and public access must all line up

Connector counts reinforce why site-level checking matters. At the 162 open locations classified for heavy-duty access, NREL reported a J1772 connector at 128 sites and CCS Type 1 at 32; one location reported NACS. Categories overlap because a site may offer multiple connector types. J1772 can be relevant for slower AC charging, but its presence alone does not establish a suitable charging rate for a truck's route. Similarly, a CCS connector does not prove that a public site has the power level, truck-friendly geometry, hours, and payment arrangement a carrier needs. ^[1]

DOE's 2025 truck infrastructure report separates depot, opportunity, and en-route charging. Depots typically charge vehicles off shift and are often private fleet facilities; opportunity charging uses a loading or unloading dwell; en-route charging is designed for travel stops and calls for substantially higher power. DOE's illustrative ranges are 10–150 kW at depots, 50–350 kW for opportunity charging, and 150 kW to 1 MW or more en route. These categories describe different operating needs, not one interchangeable public charger. ^[2]

Dedicated high-power truck charging is emerging

Heavy truck charging standards and public demonstrations are developing alongside existing CCS equipment. SAE issued its J3271 Megawatt Charging System technical information report in March 2025 to guide coupler, communication, cable handling, use-case, and interoperability work. An issued information report is a step in standard development; it does not mean that MCS equipment is already widespread on open highways. ^[4]

DOE announced $68 million for SuperTruck Charge projects in January 2025. The selected teams were to design and demonstrate large public charging sites for medium- and heavy-duty vehicles, including a proposed Southwest I-10 site with MCS-compatible pull-through stalls and a Barstow I-15 site planned with CCS equipment and scalable MCS. These announcements show investment in the infrastructure gap, but the projects' stated purpose is future development and demonstration. They should not be counted as operating sites from the announcement alone. ^[3]

How to check a truck charging stop

For a current route, use the AFDC locator and inspect station details rather than relying on a nationwide total. Filter for public access, connector, charging level, and reported station status; then verify the truck's size, trailer configuration, cable reach, charger power, operating hours, and payment method with the site or network. Smaller trucks may use suitable public passenger-vehicle infrastructure, while long-haul tractor operations are more dependent on high-power en-route hubs and charging windows. The directory is useful for finding candidate sites, but the vehicle and operating plan determine whether a candidate is usable. ^[5]