The cooperation combines public charging infrastructure with semi-public charging points at company depots. For Fryte, this marks an important step in building a cross-operator platform: The startup does not want to tie electric truck fleets to a single charging network, but instead aims to bring together various charging options along a route.
Fryte was founded in Munich in 2025 and is developing a platform for the route and charging planning of electric trucks. According to the company, the technology is based on several years of research at the Technical University of Munich (TUM).
Fryte also integrates charging points at company depots
A central component of the collaboration is the Smatrics Depot Club. Through this model, logistics companies can make their own charging infrastructure available to other companies and commercialize unused capacity.
Fryte is including these depot locations in its platform. This is intended to enable freight forwarders to incorporate semi-public charging points at depots into their route planning alongside public charging stations.
Smatrics is a joint venture between Verbund and EnBW, offering services related to the construction, operation, and management of charging infrastructure. According to the company, the charging network operated by Smatrics includes around 20,000 charging points.
OCPI connects the charging systems
The technical foundation of the partnership is the Open Charge Point Interface (OCPI). This open standard enables data exchange between different players and systems in the charging infrastructure sector.
Because both Fryte and Smatrics rely on OCPI, the charging points can be integrated into the Munich startup’s platform. For Fryte, this interoperability is a core component of its business model: instead of building its own closed charging network, the company links existing infrastructure from various operators.
“For dispatching, it doesn’t matter who operates the charging point, but rather that it fits the route,”
says Fryte CEO Maximilian Zähringer about the partnership.
Reservation of Charging Points Planned from 2027
In the future, the collaboration is set to go beyond simply displaying charging points. Starting in 2027, Fryte and Smatrics plan to make selected charging stations reservable via the Fryte platform.
In a further step, reservation information is also to be transmitted to the energy management systems of the respective locations. This would allow operators to recognize early on when an electric truck needs to charge and how much power will be required.
For freight forwarders, in turn, reservable charging windows can increase planning certainty. Especially in truck transport, the availability of a charging point is crucial, as charging times must be coordinated with routes, driving and rest periods, and delivery windows.
Fryte is already working with other partners on reserving charging infrastructure. In 2026, the startup tested reservable charging slots for electric trucks together with MAN Charge&Go and Traton Charging Solutions at locations in Munich, Dachau, and Nuremberg.
Depot Charging Becomes an Additional Business Model
At the same time, the cooperation addresses an economic challenge in setting up charging infrastructure. Companies initially build high-performance charging stations for their own e-truck fleets. If these are not fully utilized at times, surplus capacity can be offered to other logistics companies.
For depot operators, this creates the opportunity to better utilize existing infrastructure. At the same time, the potentially available charging network for freight forwarders expands without having to rely exclusively on building new public charging parks.
