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What is the Depot of the Future?

Paris, France, Monday 20 November 2025

Summary

  • The Depot of the Future is a fully electrified depot integrating grid power, BESS, solar and smart charging to create clean, resilient energy hubs.
  • Why it matters: Electric trucks are ready, but infrastructure isn’t. Decade Energy builds the ecosystem needed for electric logistics to scale.
  • How it works: Through a three-step approach: (1) secure power, (2) deploy charging + solar, (3) and optimize everything through unified energy management software.

The Depot of the Future: Decade Energy's vision for a fully electrified logistics hub.

The transition to electric road freight is no longer a question of if, it’s a question of how fast we can make it happen. Electric truck manufacturers are ready to scale. Now the infrastructure must catch up.

This is where the Depot of the Future comes in: Decade Energy’s vision for a fully electrified logistics hub. By securing grid power, optimizing energy use through Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS), and enabling smart charging, we transform depots into reliable, revenue-generating clean energy hubs.

As electric freight accelerates, a new type of depot is emerging: one where vehicles are charged, goods are moved and energy is intelligently produced, stored and managed. To realize this future, several key stakeholders must work together: logistics operators, real estate owners, OEMs, EVSE manufacturers, BESS providers, grid operators and renewable energy producers.

Together, they form the foundation of tomorrow’s electrified logistics ecosystem.

Why Decade Energy Is Building the Depot of the Future

We’ve lived this transition before. When we launched Volta Trucks in 2019, Europe needed clean, urban-friendly electric trucks but they didn’t exist at scale. So we built them. Today, world-class electric trucks are ready for the road.

But now, a deeper challenge has emerged. The vehicles are ready but the systems that support them are not. And our experience then taught us something critical: technology alone isn’t enough, an ecosystem must be ready to support it.

Electric transport can only replace diesel when depots themselves are intelligent, connected, and powered by clean energy. That requires integrating solar generation, BESS, grid services and EV charging into a single, reliable energy system.

This is why we founded Decade Energy: to build the infrastructure that the next generation of electric logistics requires to scale.

How We Build the Depot of the Future

Our approach unfolds in three phases that deliver immediate resilience while enabling long-term optimization:

1. Power Security

We begin by reinforcing grid connections and deploying onsite BESS. This ensures resilience, energy security and creates new revenue opportunities through grid services and flexibility.

2. Infrastructure Deployment

With the foundation in place, we deploy charging infrastructure and layer in distributed energy generation such as rooftop or onsite solar PV. Depots evolve from energy consumers to producers of clean, low-cost power.

3. Optimization

Over time, we unify all energy assets through Decade’s energy management software. This enables smart charging, fleet coordination, load balancing, and the option for semi-public charging. All of which turns depots into revenue-generating assets and reducing total cost of ownership (TCO).

Infrastructure That Delivers

We don’t need to rebuild every component from scratch. But we do need to integrate the right systems quickly, intelligently, and with a focus on grid-aware software and distributed renewable energy. That’s what enables electric logistics to scale.

The Depot of the Future isn’t just cleaner. It’s more resilient, more profitable, and more valuable as a strategic asset. That’s the infrastructure Decade Energy is building.

If you’re working to shape the next generation of logistics, we’re ready to help you connect the pieces, accelerate the transition, and create depots that enable fully electric road transport.


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What is the Depot of the Future?

What is the Depot of the Future?

The Depot of the Future is Decade Energy’s vision for a fully electrified logistics hub, integrating grid power, BESS, solar and smart charging to create clean, resilient energy hubs.

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