ASKO

Starting point

ASKO is Norway's leading food wholesaler and part of NorgesGruppen. The company operates around 700 trucks – over 300 of them electric – making up more than 20 % of Norway's entire e-truck fleet. Six years ago, there were just ten e-trucks.

"With diesel vehicles, you don't have to think about battery capacity, charging times or how to distribute the available power. We realised early on that this would become the challenge as more and more e-trucks joined the fleet," says Arne Bjone, Development & Project Manager Transport at ASKO NORGE.

The challenge

At first, the charging infrastructure was sufficient to charge all vehicles at the same time – but ASKO anticipated the limits early. "We knew that in the long run we would have far more vehicles than charge points. That's why we wanted to develop the solution early. Systems like this take time, and we wanted to be ready when the need arose."

The solution: PANION

Together with k2.mobility, ASKO developed PANION – software for planning and controlling charging processes. What began as a pilot project became a fleet-wide solution across all ASKO companies.

PANION analyses the state of charge of every vehicle, the available energy and the operational status of the fleet in real time. From this, the system determines which vehicles charge first, when the optimal charging time is and how the available grid capacity is distributed across the fleet.

Today, PANION manages around 300 e-trucks from various manufacturers across 19 sites – with roughly 125 chargers and over 345 charge points, integrated across multiple telematics and transport management systems.

Operations, costs and acceptance

Alongside smooth operations, PANION also optimises costs: better charging planning and the use of periods with lower electricity prices reduce energy costs – without jeopardising departure readiness. The close collaboration with the people on the ground was decisive here. "k2 had direct access to the drivers, dispatchers and planners who experience electric operations every day," says Bjone.

"The biggest challenge isn't the technology, it's the change in mindset," says Tobias Zschech, Lead Program Manager at k2.mobility. "Years of experience with diesel vehicles give way to entirely new questions: When do I charge? Which vehicle drives which route? How do I plan in kilowatt-hours instead of litres?" Acceptance is high: dispatch and drivers don't want to go back.

Scaling and results

Seven sites with 84 e-trucks and 150 routes per day grew within a year to 15 sites with 170 e-trucks and 300 routes – today it is all 19 ASKO sites with around 300 e-trucks. Since 2026, e-fleet operations have been switching from single- to two-shift operation, doubling vehicle productivity. The fleet consumes around 18 million kilowatt-hours per year – as much as roughly 1,200 Norwegian households (at an average of 15,000 kWh/year, SSB 2026).

Outlook

ASKO aims to run fully climate-neutral within three to four years. "Many are still debating whether electric heavy-duty transport works in practice. We decided to find and implement solutions," Bjone sums up. "Our collaboration with k2 and the development of PANION show how strong partnerships make electrification real."