Corridor-level infrastructure costs of static charging versus electric road systems in Germany

Heavy-duty road freight is expected to electrify through static charging at private depots, logistics facilities and public high-power sites, while Electric Road Systems (ERS) are often considered too capital-intensive. Existing comparisons cover highway sections, but not a national network, and the two technologies are costed in incompatible units. This study develops a bottom-up model that sizes and prices the static infrastructure required by battery-electric truck demand across the German highway network: electrified loading docks, public charger parks, substations, storage and grid connections. Dividing cost by edge length yields a corridor-kilometre metric comparable with an ERS benchmark. Static charging is more expensive on 37.6 percent of the modelled German and cross-border corridor length and reaches 2.6 to 3.2 times the EUR 4 million per kilometre benchmark on the busiest segments. Assigning the lower-cost technology to each edge yields an idealized investment saving of 21 percent. The model is available at https://ers.infrai.de/ .