ChargeHub and AXSO have launched a joint project to build North America’s first open and interoperable charging reservation platform for electric trucks. The project, backed by $450,000 from the Quebec government, will connect fleet operators to charging networks through standardized agreements rather than locking them into closed, proprietary systems.
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Breaking a structural deadlock
ChargeHub, North America’s leading EV roaming platform with over 500 active roaming connections and integration across 160,000 public charging ports, will lead development of the central reservation platform. As part of the collaboration, AXSO will build the reservation module that connects to charging operators’ systems.
The platform runs on OCPI 2.3, the latest version of the international open charging interoperability protocol, which includes a dedicated reservation module for the first time. National fleet operators Nationex and Intelcom will validate the system in live operational environments, ensuring the platform reflects real industry conditions rather than theoretical ones.
Medium and heavy-duty vehicles account for 9% of vehicles on Canadian roads but generate 26% of total transportation sector emissions. Transport Canada identifies transportation as the country’s second-largest source of greenhouse gas emissions, making heavy-duty electrification central to Canada’s climate targets.
Despite electric truck sales surpassing the cumulative total of the previous seven years combined, infrastructure remains the primary barrier to long-haul adoption.
According to ChargeHub, the problem is structural with infrastructure operators pausing investing unless there is predictable utilization. Meanwhile, fleet operators will not electrify without guaranteed access to compatible chargers along their routes.
“Charging reservation is the essential condition for electrifying long-haul fleets,” said Francis De Broux, Chief Operating Officer of ChargeHub. “With this project, we’re putting in place the software infrastructure that will allow North America to clear this hurdle.”
ChargeHub is building for access
In an interview with Charity Journal, ChargeHub disclosed that smaller fleet operators without sophisticated management software will not need to overhaul their existing systems to access reservations under the incoming system.
Lightweight charging station management systems already exist at accessible price points, and the platform will connect through those systems using the same consent-based logic that governs ChargeHub’s existing roaming network.
At the moment, the project is in the R&D stage but ChargeHub notes that the immediate priority is proving that a fleet operator can successfully reserve charging on a network via a roaming reservation. Handling real-time scenarios like traffic delays and missed slots is on the roadmap for subsequent development phases, once the core reservation flow proves itself in a live industrial environment.
While no central and interoperable reservation platform for electric truck charging currently exists in North America, proprietary reservation solutions have emerged. However, each remains limited to a single charging network, leaving fleet operators unable to reserve across networks the way the new platform intends to allow.
“Interoperable reservation is the missing piece that will make electric truck charging as reliable as a diesel fill-up,” said Louis-Vincent Courchesne, Chief Revenue Officer of AXSO. “Our experience with Circuit électrique and our close ties with charging operators will allow us to build a solution that’s genuinely grounded in operational reality.”