Data centres are drawing less than a fifth of the electricity capacity they have reserved, while the haulage depots that need power to run electric trucks face waits of nearly a decade for an upgraded connection. This is according to a new report from freight infrastructure body TwentyForty, which convened a panel of experts from the electricity network, energy system, freight and property sectors, including UK Power Networks, the National Energy System Operator and Welch’s Group.
TwentyForty’s 12 Pillars of Change: Power In report analysed more than five million half-hourly meter readings from all 96 data centres on UK Power Networks’ distribution network, which serves London, the East and South East of England. The typical site drew just 18% of the capacity it had booked over three years, and nearly half of sites never once exceeded 40%. Despite this, grid capacity is allocated to a site using the theoretical booked figure, not the real one.
A previous report by TwentyForty found that, across more than one hundred depot charging trials, virtually no haulage operator had enough power to charge an electric fleet. A single electric truck can use as much energy as the entire depot it runs from, and many sites cannot support even one standard truck charger. The cost to increase capacity can be high as £5 million per site, and some operators have been offered connection dates as late as 2035.
TwentyForty argues the solution haulage businesses need could be a rare early win for the new government. A Prime Minister who takes pride in getting transport to work in Greater Manchester can get Britain’s trucks charging without asking the Treasury for a penny.
It is calling for three key changes:
- grid capacity to be allocated on measured demand
- grid capacity that is booked and never used to be handed back
- electricity networks to be required to offer depots flexible connections that use the grid’s quiet overnight hours, when most HGVs charge.
The report warns that, while government policy is for all trucks to be electrified between 2035 and 2040, the switch to electric trucks will happen more quickly and to a timeframe set by China. Electric and hybrid trucks outsold diesel for the first time in China last year, and more than nine in ten of the world's electric trucks are now built there. With a competitive home market for EV trucks, China's manufacturers are now exporting cheap electric HGVs into
Europe, and that competition is expected to pull the UK running cost of an electric truck below diesel within years.
The report states that this will be the trigger for hauliers to switch to an EV truck, and the transition will happen quickly. Haulage operates on remarkably small margins, causing operators to replace their trucks on a five-to-seven-year cycle. Once the electric truck is the cheaper option, a large share of the fleet can transition within one or two buying rounds. A depot grid connection takes 18 to 36 months to build, which is why the report argues the UK must prepare the network before the switch takes place.
Jamie Sands, Founder of TwentyForty, said:
The grid is handing its scarcest resource to whoever asks for it first, not those that will use it. Most depots are waiting in a queue for increased grid connectivity behind reservations for capacity that are pure speculation.
The report also finds that the government’s new system for prioritising strategically important grid connections names data centres and AI Growth Zones but never mentions freight depots. It also shows that the £4.5 billion of network reinforcement that National Grid requested in June 2026 makes no mention of vehicle charging at all.
Hauliers also face a further barrier related to UK commercial property law, whereby landlords can refuse to allow a tenant to install chargers at their own expense. The report calls for a legal right to install, as already exists in some parts of the world, such as California.
Jamie Sands added:
The switch to electric haulage is coming on a date set by vehicle prices Britain doesn’t control. The one thing the new government does control is whether the grid is ready. Right now, it isn’t, but the problem is easily solved. Rethink who gets the power, in what order, and the trucks that arrive on the next buying cycle will have somewhere to charge.
The report makes three additional asks of government and the regulator: require electricity networks to offer flexible connections to depots (Ofgem), recognise freight within the criteria that decide which projects get strategic grid priority (DESNZ and DfT), and give commercial tenants a statutory right to install charging where they pay for it (DfT and MHCLG).
Power In: The Infrastructure Roadblock is the second report in TwentyForty’s 12 Pillars of Change programme. The full report is available here: Power In | 12 Pillars of Change | TwentyForty
