Can trucks charge during the driver's break?

Yes. After 4.5 hours of driving, the driver must take at least 45 minutes of break; planned at a megawatt charger, it becomes the charging stop.

Explained in

Truck charging · Stop 02How do driving and rest rules shape charging?Four and a half hours of driving, then 45 minutes of break; nine hours a day, then eleven hours of rest: how EU driving time rules set the charging windows of a truck.

After four and a half hours of driving, a driver must take an uninterrupted break of at least 45 minutes, which may be split into 15 minutes followed by 30. Daily driving may not exceed nine hours, extended to ten at most twice a week, and a regular daily rest lasts at least eleven hours. For an electric truck, this means two natural charging windows: the break on the road, short and powerful, and the daily rest, long and slow.

From “The break becomes the charging stop”, stop 02

Terms

  1. Daily restThe rest a truck or bus driver must take each day under EU driving time rules, regularly at least eleven hours; for an electric truck, the long, slow charging window.
  1. How fast can an electric truck charge?The Megawatt Charging System allows up to 1,250 V and 3,000 A; trucks in series production charge at up to about 1,000 kW, from 20% to 80% in about 30 minutes.
  2. What does AFIR require for truck charging?Pools for heavy vehicles along the TEN-T network: 1,400 kW along 15% by 2025, 2,800 kW on the core network along 50% by 2027, and 3,600 kW every 60 km by 2030, plus parking areas and urban nodes.
  1. EUR-Lex: Regulation (EC) No 561/2006 on driving times and rest periods, consolidated text of 22 May 2024, Articles 4, 6, 7 and 8. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:02006R0561-20240522. Checked 09 Oct 2026. © European Union, reused under Commission Decision 2011/833/EU.
  2. EUR-Lex: Regulation (EC) No 561/2006 on driving times and rest periods, consolidated text of 22 May 2024, Articles 4, 6, 7 and 8. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:02006R0561-20240522. Checked 09 Oct 2026. © European Union, reused under Commission Decision 2011/833/EU.