Ensuring megawatt charging succeeds

Megawatt charging is here. But are we ready?

As industries strive for cleaner and more efficient power solutions, the adoption of high-power electric systems is becoming increasingly vital. One of the key, promising advancements in this field is the Megawatt Charging Standard (MCS). It is built for high-power applications facilitating more efficient and rapid charging for the heaviest and hardest-working vehicles on the road and at sea. But scaling MCS means learning from the hard lessons of today’s charging systems. Here’s how MCS can drive electric transition forward—and what we must get right to make it work.

Combined Charging System: Built to Last?

If you’ve ever struggled with public EV charging, you’re not alone—and you may have experienced one of the significant drawbacks of the Combined Charging System (CCS): its reliability for Powerline Communication (PLC). CCS has been the backbone of EV charging infrastructure for years, but it wasn’t exactly designed with megawatt-level use cases, long cables or harsh environments in mind.

MCS is emerging as a harmonious choice, the default standard for heavy-duty vehicles with leading efforts in Europe and the USA as demonstrated in the CharIN Testival 2025 hosted by ADVANTICS. For the first time, megawatt charging was seen in action at a Testival with successful tests with heavy-duty vehicles and charging systems, including market-ready ADVANTICS charge controllers and power converters —with up to 1500 V, it can scale to 6 MW of power, instead of 3.75 MW limited by 1250 V systems.

This added headroom at 1500 V highlights how our designs anticipate the next level of power demands—just as MCS itself offers significant advancement over CCS.

CCS relies on PLC for data transmission, a method that’s prone to noise, interference, and environmental disruption, due to its single-ended RF nature. That means charging sessions can drop out, slow down, or fail entirely, especially in high-power settings like commercial depots, ports, or long-haul trucking rest stops. This sensitivity can lead to communication disruptions and increased downtime in rugged environments in high-power scenarios where MCS is typically deployed. In marine applications, for example, the need for precise grounding and extensive electromagnetic interference filtering is particularly challenging. A single interference spike can throw off a charging cycle.

In contrast, MCS employs 10BASE-T1S, a robust, differential, Ethernet-based communication protocol, which is far less susceptible to noise and interference. This enhanced reliability is crucial for ensuring seamless and uninterrupted charging operations, even in demanding conditions. Whether it’s high-vibration environments like electric trucks or complex installations on marine vessels, MCS can deliver the robust and reliable data communication that heavy-duty EV infrastructure has long awaited.

Innovation for the Real World

At ADVANTICS , we’re driving innovation forward by turning advanced technologies into real-world solutions—getting cutting-edge hardware into the hands of customers who need it the most. Our MCS charge controllers for both vehicle and charge-station sides are already deployed across multiple applications, trusted by happy customers who demand performance and reliability. But we are not stopping there.

We understand the reality of the market that there will be mixed charging infrastructure for many years to come. So far to support this transition from CCS to MCS, the industry stop-gap solution has been to provide adapters. But this poses operational issues for fleet operators. Not only do the fleet drivers now need to navigate the adapter ecosystem but its one more critical loose part to get lost, misplaced, or damaged. To solve that pain point, we are developing our dual-standard charge controllers, so system integrators can support both current and future needs with no adapters, using a single solution. For us, building a scalable EV future means bridging the gap between where we are today and where megawatt charging has the potential to take us.

In the next edition of Current Affairs, we tackle the challenge of delivering ‘megapower’ up to 6 MW per charger—and how smarter engineering can make it possible.

See you next month!