Mer installs Wren Kitchens eHGV charging hub

Mer Fleet Services has completed a depot EV charging installation for Wren Kitchens and Bedrooms at its Barton upon Humber site in North Lincolnshire.

The charging infrastructure will support Wren’s incoming fleet of ten Mercedes-Benz eActros 600 electric HGVs. The vehicles are expected to operate on inbound logistics routes, including raw material movements into the company’s manufacturing operations.

The installation uses a triple Kempower Power Unit and six satellite chargers. The distributed charging architecture allows power to be shared between vehicles, supporting scheduled charging between shifts and faster top-up sessions when operational requirements demand it.

Mer positioned the charging station around the movement and parking of Wren’s eHGV fleet, including satellite charger placement that allows vehicles to charge while attached to trailers. The project required nearly 2km of cabling to place chargers where they were needed for fleet operation rather than only where installation would have been simpler.

Depot electrification depends on matching electrical infrastructure to vehicle movement, loading patterns, and working schedules. Heavy-duty charging is shaped by route timing, yard layout, driver shifts, trailer movement, bay access, grid capacity, safety separation, cable management, charger access, and vehicle dwell time.

The Mercedes-Benz eActros 600 has a stated range of up to 500km on a single charge, making it suitable for longer regional haulage and inbound logistics where charging can be coordinated at base. Its battery capacity and operating profile require infrastructure designed around high-energy, repeatable duty cycles rather than occasional top-ups.

Distributed charging architecture is increasingly important for eHGV depots. A single high-power charger may not suit sites where several vehicles return within a similar operating window. Power-sharing systems can allocate available capacity across multiple charge points, helping fleets recharge vehicles according to departure priority, battery state, and shift patterns.

That model also makes better use of grid capacity. Where a depot has a limited connection, dynamic allocation can reduce the need for every charger to deliver maximum power at the same time. Electrical design becomes a question of load management, operational scheduling, and future expansion as more vehicles are added.

High-power public charging and depot charging are developing along parallel tracks. Government work on grid support for motorway charging infrastructure addresses strategic road corridors, while depot installations face a different constraint: substantial electrical works inside existing operational yards, often while logistics activity continues around the installation.

Fleet charging also has a sharper operational risk profile than many public charging installations. Uptime affects vehicle availability, route planning, and supply-chain resilience. A charger fault can disrupt a dispatch schedule, while poor cable placement can create hazards or limit the ability to charge with trailers attached.

Civil works, cable routes, protection settings, earthing, charger placement, traffic movement, and maintenance access therefore carry direct commercial consequences. Heavy-duty electrification cannot be added after vehicle procurement as a secondary workstream; infrastructure has to be designed, installed, commissioned, and tested before vehicles enter regular service.

The Barton upon Humber project shows the practical shape of depot electrification as electric HGV adoption moves beyond trials. High-capacity charging equipment, long cable runs, distributed power sharing, and site-specific layout decisions are becoming core requirements for operators electrifying manufacturing supply chains, inbound logistics, and regional haulage.