Europe has mandatory rest stops of at least 45 minutes, so any software with the ability to plan around those should have the ability to convert them easily to recharge stops.
That doesn’t mean the recharge infrastructure exists overnight, but those same stops are being converted to support the rollouts of electric car fleets (e.g. belgium is going to mandate corporate car fleets convert to electric from 2026).
Furthermore, there are now multiple cities that banned diesel vehicles entering cities. This would actually give electric trucks an edge over diesel ones, this could be a great solution for resupplying supermarkets. Could be good for increasing the margin.
Article 7
After a driving period of four and a half hours a driver shall take an uninterrupted break of not less than 45 minutes, unless he takes a rest period.
This break may be replaced by a break of at least 15 minutes followed by a break of at least 30 minutes each distributed over the period in such a way as to comply with the provisions of the first paragraph.
Does the software actually need to plan the rest stops precisely? Planning to drive X hours over Y hours of real time doesn’t require choosing where the rest stops are in advance, which allows a driver to stop where convenient depending on traffic and other conditions. But if charging is required, then the stop needs to be at a charger, which is a much stronger constraint.
I thought truckers commonly work in teams specifically so the truck can keep moving during mandatory breaks. The driver on break goes to sleep, and their partner takes over.
Here in Europe, that is rather an exception. Also, sleeping while the other driver drives isn't considered as legal resting time. Only time outside the truck is considered legal resting time.
It’s not “common” but it’s definitely frequent for critical pieces of hardware where the cost of 2 days of labor for a second trucker is irrelevant. (e.g. Getting a replacement industrial component blocking a business from resuming operations.)
That doesn’t mean the recharge infrastructure exists overnight, but those same stops are being converted to support the rollouts of electric car fleets (e.g. belgium is going to mandate corporate car fleets convert to electric from 2026).