Can your farm charge an electric telehandler or loader?

Most farm connections can charge one electric telehandler or loader, as long as it charges outside the milking and feeding peaks. The machines themselves ask 3 to 11 kW. Trouble starts when several machines, a car and the farm all draw power at the same moment, or when the connection is old 3x230 V. Then a semi-off-grid system is often cheaper than a heavier connection. Its battery and solar panels deliver the power, and the grid only serves as a charger.

Maybe the dealer is already at your yard with a demo machine. An electric telehandler or a small electric loader for pushing feed, cleaning cubicles and moving bales. Quiet in the barn, and no exhaust fumes near the animals. The question comes at the end of the demo: where do you plug it in? The socket in the workshop, the one behind the milking parlour, or do you need a new charger on three phases?

That question hides more than a plug. A charger that runs at the wrong time adds its full power on top of your busiest quarter-hour. A Dutch rental company learned it the hard way with an electric mini loader. Once, the local supply could not handle the fastest charging setting, and the plugs melted. On a British farming forum, a farmer described his three-phase farm as a "hotch porch of single phase". Only the grain drying, the welder and the compressor ran on three phases. Add two electric machines and a car, and the main breaker becomes the limit.

We see the same pattern on farms that want to grow. A dairy farm in Lokeren needed more power, and Fluvius could not deliver it without medium voltage. Solar panels, a wind turbine and a battery system made that unnecessary. On a semi-off-grid project in Wingene, the battery alone delivers 3 x 400 V 63 A. The solar panels or a wind turbine add their power on top. That is the kind of reserve a charging fleet needs.

How much power does an electric telehandler or loader need to charge?

An electric telehandler or loader charges on about 3 kW from a 230 V socket, and on 6 to 11 kW from a three-phase charger. The battery holds roughly 14 to 31 kWh. That is less than most electric cars, so one machine alone is a modest load.

Sources: Schäffer, Weidemann, JCB and the French farm press (Réussir), see Sources. Check the data plate of your own machine: the charger, not the battery, sets the power your connection sees.

How much energy a machine uses in a day depends on the work. According to JCB, quoted by Réussir, 92% of its electric machine users work no more than three hours a day. So most farm machines never empty their battery in one day, and a slow charge overnight or at noon is enough. Heavy work, like pushing a full silage clamp or a long day of loading, empties it much faster.

Can a normal farm connection charge an electric telehandler?

Yes, one electric telehandler usually charges fine on a normal farm connection, as long as the rest of the farm leaves room. The question is not what the charger needs, but what is left on your main breaker while it charges.

Your main breaker sets the maximum. On a three-phase connection, the power in kVA is 1.73 x voltage x amps / 1,000. These are the standard sizes Fluvius uses:

Calculation with the Fluvius standard sizes, before the other loads on the farm. On 3 x 230 V 40 A, one fast charger leaves little room for the parlour, the milk cooling and the rest. On 3 x 400 V 63 A there is more room, but two machines, a car charger and a heat pump still add up.

A single-phase charger has its own catch. A 3 kW charger on 230 V draws about 13 A from one phase. If that phase already carries the farm's single-phase loads, it is the first to trip, even when the other two phases have room. Ask your electrician to put the charger on the lightest phase.

Is your farm on an older 3 x 230 V connection that already struggles? Then our article on a 3x230 V connection that is too weak explains what you can do before you add machines.

Single-phase or three-phase charging: what does a farm need?

Three-phase charging at 400 V is what makes an electric telehandler charge in two to three hours instead of a night. An 11 kW charger needs three phases of 400 V at 16 A. Single-phase charging stops at about 7.4 kW, and a normal socket gives about 3 kW.

Some electric farm machines, such as the Schäffer 24e T and the Weidemann 1390e, have the charger on board and accept a Type 2 plug, the same plug as electric cars. That makes a farm wallbox useful twice: for the machine and for the car or van. Our article on charging stations without a heavier connection covers the cars and vans.

When should you charge electric farm machines?

Charge electric farm machines at midday or at night, outside the milking, cooling and feeding peaks. On most farms the machines work in the morning and late afternoon, around the same hours as the parlour. Midday is free, and it is exactly when solar panels produce most.

That is how the school farm of the agricultural college in Pau-Montardon, in France, does it with its electric compact loader. The loader pushes feed and scrapes manure every day. "The machine is put on charge between noon and two," Sarah Consuegra, head of the school farm, told Web-agri. With only light work, it lasts the whole weekend. The Dutch trade magazine Grondig saw the same logic. In barns the work is shorter and happens at predictable hours. The machine never leaves the yard, so charging can be planned.

In Flanders the timing also matters for your bill. The meter takes the average power per quarter-hour, and the highest quarter-hour of the month is your monthly peak. The capacity tariff charges the average of those peaks, 53.39 euro per kW a year on average in 2026, excl. VAT. An 11 kW charger that lands in your busiest quarter-hour every month can add about 587 euro a year. Our guide on how to calculate the capacity tariff shows how to find that quarter-hour in your own data.

Feed robots, loaders, a telehandler and a car: what adds up on a farm?

One machine rarely overloads a farm; the sum of machines does. Electric machinery usually arrives one by one, and each new charger looks small on its own.

Add them up on your busiest quarter-hour, not on your yearly consumption. The milking robot is a separate story. Its power belongs to sizing the farm itself, which our article on solar panels and a battery for a farm covers. For forklifts in a packing shed or warehouse, read our article on charging forklifts on your own solar power.

Can solar panels charge an electric telehandler or loader?

Yes, from spring to autumn solar panels can charge an electric telehandler or loader for a large part, if you charge at midday. In winter they cannot. In Belgium 1 kWp of panels gives about 4 kWh a day from May to July, and about 1 kWh a day in December.

Take the Schäffer telehandler with 31.3 kWh. Refilling 80% of it, about 25 kWh, takes about 6 kWp of panels on a summer day, and about 25 kWp in December. That is a calculation with PVGIS figures for Ghent, before the rest of the farm uses its share. Plan solar for the summer months and the grid or a battery for the winter.

A battery changes the picture. It stores the midday surplus for machines that charge in the evening, and it adds power when the chargers and the farm run together. At a farm in Tielt, the battery system gives a higher power, so a heavier connection was not needed. The farm is expected to take only about 5% of its yearly use from the grid.

Heavier connection, battery or semi-off-grid: what fits your farm?

If one machine charges at noon or at night, you usually need nothing new. When several machines, a car and a growing farm meet a small connection, a battery is often cheaper. A battery or a semi-off-grid system then competes with a heavier connection or medium voltage.

Has the grid operator already refused a heavier connection? Then read our article on your options when a heavier connection is refused. If the quote says medium voltage, our article on a medium-voltage cabin or a battery helps you compare. For larger sites, our business battery systems go up to modular installations of 1 MW.

How do we check whether your farm can charge its machines?

We start from your connection, your farm day and the machines you plan, not from a battery.

1. Step 1: You send us your main breaker (for example 3 x 400 V 40 A) and your latest invoices or quarter-hour data. Add your solar panels and the machines and chargers you plan.
2. Step 2: If data is missing, we measure your consumption first. Our monitoring software shows use per phase, so we see which phase and which quarter-hour are the limit.
3. Step 3: We calculate how much charging your connection carries, and when. Often the answer is a charging plan and a charger with adjustable power.
4. Step 4: When the connection is too small, we design a semi-off-grid solution for your farm. Solar panels, a battery and inverters deliver the power, with the grid as a charger and smart control of the loads.
5. Step 5: We install and commission the system, and you follow production, battery and use in real time. The system stays expandable when the next machine arrives.