Kempower has introduced a charging unit built to solve one of the thorniest problems facing electric fleet infrastructure: how to serve both passenger cars and heavy trucks without building two separate networks. The Finnish charging manufacturer unveiled its Mega Satellite Flex this week at ACT Expo, during its Unplug & Recharge event for customers and partners. It is the company's first dispenser capable of switching between the established CCS standard, rated up to 560 kW, and the emerging Megawatt Charging System, which can deliver as much as 1.2 MW.
The timing reflects a broader shift underway in commercial transport. CCS has been the default fast-charging protocol for electric cars for years, but it was never designed for the power demands of long-haul trucks, which need to recharge large battery packs in short stops to stay commercially viable. MCS is the industry's answer to that gap, and its rollout is still in early stages worldwide. Operators investing in charging sites today have had to gamble on which standard, or which mix of vehicles, would show up at their locations tomorrow. Just as drivers now expect software features like built-in tracker blocking on their connected devices as a baseline expectation rather than a bonus, fleet operators increasingly expect charging hardware to adapt to multiple standards without forcing a costly rebuild. built-in tracker blocking
One Site, Two Vehicle Classes
The core pitch is flexibility without duplication. Rather than installing dedicated CCS stalls for cars and a separate MCS setup for trucks, an operator can deploy the Mega Satellite Flex and let the hardware handle either connection type. Kempower says this also extends to newer 800-volt electric vehicles, an architecture increasingly common in premium and performance models that benefit from higher charging speeds. A single site, in theory, can serve a delivery van, a passenger sedan, and a heavy-duty tractor without needing three different systems bolted together.
The technical specifications support that ambition. The unit handles up to 1,500 amps on the MCS side and 700 amps for CCS, with cable lengths of 5 meters for CCS and 2.7 meters for MCS - long enough to reach charging ports on vehicles of very different shapes and sizes. An optional payment terminal allows the charger to function as a standalone public-access point rather than requiring a separate kiosk or app-only access.
Why Utilization Matters More Than Peak Power
Charging hardware is expensive to install, and the return on that investment depends heavily on how often each unit is actually in use. A charger that sits idle because it only serves one type of vehicle is a poor use of capital, particularly at sites where truck and car traffic patterns differ throughout the day. By supporting both protocols from a single dispenser, Kempower is betting that operators will see higher utilization rates from the outset, rather than waiting years for MCS-compatible trucks to reach the volumes needed to justify dedicated infrastructure.
The company also notes that the Mega Satellite Flex works with its existing distributed charging architecture, meaning operators already running Kempower systems will not need to overhaul their setups to add the new unit. That compatibility matters in an industry where infrastructure decisions often get made years before the vehicles that will use them are on the road. The Mega Satellite Flex is expected to reach the North American and European markets in July 2026, giving fleet operators and charging network developers a runway to plan sites around a technology still finding its footing.