On 30 January 2026, through the distribution market sector of Transport en Logistiek Nederland, we made an inspiring company visit to Lidl Netherlands in Almere. The visit focused on their sustainability vision and the layout of their charging yards. Lidl demonstrated how they have structurally integrated electric transport into their logistics operations and how charging has become part of daily business. Third-party vehicles can also charge at Lidl’s facilities.
Space use
The electrification of logistics fleets is in full swing. In recent years, attention has focused primarily on grid congestion, charging capacities, and subsidies. But anyone reading the report Handreiking Ruimtegebruik Depotladen (Guidance on Space Use for Depot Charging) will see that an equally significant challenge is the depot’s available physical space.
The NAL logistics working group commissioned Stec Groep and Haskoning BV to produce this guidance document for companies seeking insight into the spatial footprint of charging facilities at depots. Depot charging is not just about installing charging posts. Charging bays, maneuvering space, turning circles, clearance heights, safety requirements, and additional installations such as transformers and battery storage together determine the actual space required. For many existing depots — particularly on urban and older industrial sites — this turns out to be a serious puzzle.
The guidance shows that a charging bay for an electric truck is considerably larger than a standard parking space. For N2 and N3 vehicles, a gross width of approximately 4 meters is recommended, excluding a technical strip for charging infrastructure. Adequate maneuvering space is also critical. A truck-and-trailer combination may need up to 27 meters of width to turn safely. A minimum clearance height of 4.2 meters is also a hard requirement that not every existing depot can readily meet.
Saving space requires design choices
Of particular interest are the space-saving solutions discussed in the report. Charging gantries — where chargers are suspended above vehicles — reduce the number of obstacles at ground level and lower the risk of collision damage. Clustering technical equipment in a single, expandable technical zone also makes depots more future-proof, especially with an eye on emerging technologies such as megawatt charging.
Grid congestion is pushing many companies to consider battery storage. Battery systems enable peak shaving and ensure that charging can continue even with limited grid capacity. At the same time, energy storage itself requires space and safety clearances. Large battery systems quickly reach container scale and require setback distances from buildings, fire-resistant measures, and clear working space around them. Again, early planning prevents costly reconfigurations later.
A recurring bottleneck is the lack of consistent national guidelines. Insurers, grid operators, fire services, and municipalities all apply different requirements for setback distances, impact protection, and fire safety. The guidance, therefore, emphasizes the importance of early consultation with all relevant parties to build consensus and create certainty.
Finally, the report explicitly situates depot charging within a broader context. Climate adaptation, densification of industrial estates, and the transition to fully electrified buildings all compete for the same scarce space. Those who approach depot charging in isolation will hit dead ends. Those who integrate it into spatial and strategic decision-making are building a future-proof logistics business.
Thinking and looking ahead
The guidance document is useful, but it also reveals that attention to depot charging within the National Charging Infrastructure Agenda lags behind its actual importance to the transport sector. That is a missed opportunity. Depot charging is not an alternative — it will be, and will remain, the norm.
The reason is straightforward: depot charging is structurally the cheapest form of charging. On their own premises, carriers can control charging times, take advantage of overnight electricity rates, avoid peak demand, and combine charging with on-site generation and battery storage. Without depot charging, electric transport is barely financially viable for many businesses.
Yet policy focus remains heavily directed at public charging infrastructure and corridor locations — effectively overlooking the daily reality of transport operators: virtually every trip begins and ends at the depot. And it is precisely there that the challenges accumulate: insufficient space, grid congestion, fragmented safety rules, and uncertainty about future densification of industrial sites.
Depot charging, therefore, deserves priority in policy, spatial planning, and investment programs. As long as it is treated as one option among many, rather than as the starting point, the transition will remain unnecessarily costly and complex for operators.
Depot Space Planning for EV Charging Infrastructure
The ability to assess and design the physical layout of depot charging facilities, understanding that electrification requires far more than installing charging posts. This competency encompasses:
- Charging bay dimensioning — knowing that N2/N3 vehicles require significantly wider bays than standard parking spaces, including technical strips for charging hardware
- Maneuvering and circulation design — calculating turning circles and access routes for trucks with trailers, which may require up to 27 meters of sweep width
- Vertical clearance assessment — verifying and planning for minimum clearance heights (4.2m+) across all vehicle movement areas
- Ancillary infrastructure footprinting — accounting for the space demands of transformers, switchgear, battery storage systems, and their mandatory safety setbacks
- Safety and compliance mapping — navigating the overlapping and often inconsistent requirements of insurers, grid operators, fire services, and municipalities regarding distances, impact protection, and fire safety
- Constraint analysis for existing sites — identifying where legacy depot layouts, urban plot sizes, or ageing industrial estate infrastructure limit electrification options, and developing workarounds
- Integrated spatial planning — embedding charging infrastructure decisions within broader site development choices, including climate adaptation measures, building electrification, and site densification pressures
This competency is especially critical for professionals working with urban depots and older logistics sites, where space scarcity makes poor planning immediately costly and difficult to reverse.
Walther Ploos van Amstel