September 28th Radar

The Charge Point Radar — Week of 21–27 September 2026 Produced by FLEXECHARGE The signals that matter for charge point operators, every week. A two-host European news roundup covering the week of Monday 21 to Sunday 27 September 2026 — grid flexibility, deal flow, the driver experience, truck charging and market demand, pulled from electrive, Chargalytics, MobilityPlaza, Enlit and more. Chapters **[00:00] Cold open** The week in one breath: a motorway service area plugged into the grid on flexible terms, a French utility buying an oil major's fast-charging business, a new map of where Europe's electric trucks will charge — and almost one in three new EU cars now plugging in. **[00:39] The grid learns to flex** GRIDSERVE and Extra open a 24-bay Electric Super Hub at Cobham Services on the M25 — 400 kW capable, and connected through a DERMS so UK Power Networks and ESP can raise or lower site power in under a minute. Plus the Siemens study for EIT Urban Mobility, ChargeUp Europe and ACEA: €24.7bn of distribution-grid investment needed by 2030 — falling to €14.1bn with intelligent load management — and why only Germany has all four smart-charging building blocks in place. **[02:58] Deals and network moves** Sorégies buys BP Pulse's French fast-charging business (32 operating sites, 600+ charge points, 14 more in development) and goes national under its Alterna énergie brand. In the Netherlands, 43 municipalities award South Holland and Zeeland concessions to TotalEnergies (~60%) and Velian — with price screens, ad-hoc payment and dynamic smart charging written into the tender. EnBW opens its Karlsruhe flagship park with XCharge's new 480 kW C7; Electra opens its most powerful urban station in Madrid (26 points, up to 600 kW). **[05:58] The driver experience** Osprey launches Osprey Go with Autocharge across its whole UK network. InstaVolt confirms CHAdeMO stays — at least one connector at every site. From the CharIN Testival: a Mercedes-AMG that wouldn't talk to the charger, ISO 15118-20 adoption accelerating, and why the question for operators is shifting from peak kilowatts to whether the whole chain actually works together. **[08:03] Trucks, megawatts and corridors** Fraunhofer ISI and the ICCT map European truck charging demand: ~100 TWh by 2035, ~200 TWh by 2045, with the top 10% of locations carrying 60–90% of demand and grid peaks of 20–50 MW. Germany starts construction at 124 unstaffed service areas, the EU clears up to €1.6bn in state aid, Milence nears 40 charging parks, GRIDSERVE expands its Voltloader eHGV partnership, and Daimler shows the eActros LowLiner with megawatt charging from late 2027. **[09:48] Market pulse** ACEA's August numbers: BEVs at 27.7% of new EU registrations (up nearly 63% year on year), plug-in hybrids adding 11.1% — almost 39% of new cars now have a charging port. And E.ON + BYD bundle car, tariff and charging flexibility into one German offer from November, with up to €20/month savings for optimised charging. **[10:55] Quick hits** Efacec unveils a charging hub solution with up to 1.6 MW. The UK creates a permitted development right for cross-pavement charging. Changan UK picks Ohme as its home charging partner. **[11:13] Radar pick — ask about flexible connections** The one action for CPOs this week: if you're waiting on a firm grid connection for a high-power site, ask your network operator whether a flexible connection is on the table. Cobham shows the route — faster connection, lower upfront cost, in exchange for minute-level load control — and the Siemens numbers suggest load management could avoid over €10bn of grid spend. **[11:59] Outro** Coming up: Elbilmessen in Herning (2–4 Oct), E-CHARGE in Bologna (7–9 Oct), and the Paris Motor Show from 12 Oct. ## Sources - GRIDSERVE × Extra, Cobham Super Hub (22 Sep) — gridserve.com - Siemens study for EIT Urban Mobility, ChargeUp Europe, ACEA (21 Sep) — enlit.world - Sorégies acquires BP Pulse France (25 Sep) — electrive.com - TotalEnergies & Velian, South Holland and Zeeland concessions (21 Sep) — electrive.com - EnBW Karlsruhe flagship park, XCharge C7 (22 Sep) — electrive.com, mobilityplaza.com - Electra Carabanchel, Madrid (21 Sep) — mobilityplaza.com - Osprey Go with Autocharge (21 Sep) — mobilityplaza.com - InstaVolt retains CHAdeMO (25 Sep) — electrive.com - CharIN Testival, interoperability (26 Sep) — electrive.com - Fraunhofer ISI & ICCT truck charging demand (24 Sep) — electrive.com - German truck network, EU state aid, Daimler eActros LowLiner (wk 21 Sep) — chargalytics.com - GRIDSERVE × Voltloader eHGV partnership (21 Sep) — electrive.com - ACEA August registrations (24 Sep) — electrive.com - E.ON × BYD partnership (26 Sep) — enlit.world - Efacec 1.6 MW hub (24 Sep) — electrive.com - UK cross-pavement charging right (24 Sep) — chargalytics.com, renewableenergymagazine.com - Changan UK selects Ohme (23 Sep) — electrive.com *The Charge Point Radar is produced by FLEXECHARGE. 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