Ph.D. Candidate (m/f/d) - Energy & Mobility Systems Scientist – Electric Truck Fleets, Smart Ch[...] in München

Academic staff

12.08.2026, Academic staff

Motivation

Two percent of the vehicles on Europe's roads, yet 27 percent of road transport's CO₂ emissions: few levers of the mobility transition are as powerful as heavy road freight. That heavy-duty transport must be electrified is settled. What remains open is how the energy system will cope. Charging parks for electric trucks require grid connections in the megawatt range - and at the same time, their fleets are one of the most valuable flexibility resources in the distribution grid. When a truck is connected to the grid, and for how long, is determined by fleet operations - but this knowledge never reaches the grid, because data between fleets, charging infrastructure, and grid operation flows through proprietary interfaces. This is exactly where the research project CEEDS4CI (Common European Energy Data Space for eMobility Charging Infrastructure) comes in: together with partners from research and industry, we are developing the interfaces through which fleets, charging infrastructure, and grid operators will exchange data in the future. At the Smart Mobility Lab, we view mobility as a system: we work with real operational data and model the interplay between the actors. Join the Smart Mobility Lab at the Institute of Automotive Technology and actively shape the future.

Your Challenge

We are looking for innovative applicants with initiative and drive who want to advance the grid-friendly integration of heavy electric commercial vehicles through their doctorate. At the center of the question of how much flexibility an electric heavy-duty fleet can actually provide to the energy system. You will model charging processes and fleet operations, forecast flexibility potentials from real operational and charging data, and derive charging strategies that can be used in a grid-friendly and economically viable way - up to bidirectional charging and marketing via virtual power plants. To this end, you will describe the relevant actors, data flows, and technical requirements between fleet operators, charging infrastructure operators, grid operators, and energy management systems; on this basis, you will specify the framework's optimization and coordination services and coordinate their implementation with our partners. You will then bring vehicles and charging infrastructure into the interoperability test and demonstrate their functionality in the laboratory and in real charging operations. In addition, you will represent the institute in a European consortium, take on responsibility in the coordinative leadership of work packages, and ensure the scientific and technical exploitation of results through publications, open-source contributions, standardization processes, and presentations at conferences and in expert networks.

Your Profile

As the ideal candidate, you hold a very good (≤1.9, German grading scale) master's degree in electrical engineering and information technology, energy engineering, automotive engineering, computer science, mechanical engineering, industrial engineering, or a comparable technical-scientific discipline. You bring solid knowledge of electrical energy systems and are familiar with battery and charging technology, charging infrastructure, bidirectional charging, and integration into distribution grids. Solid programming skills, especially in Python, are required; knowledge of time-series analysis, optimization, machine learning, or energy system modelling is an advantage. Above all, you bring initiative, analytical thinking, and enthusiasm for the electrification of heavy-duty transport. Business-fluent German and very good English skills are required.

Your Opportunities

As part of our team, you will be responsible for the entire chain from use-case definition through modeling to real-world test runs, moving between vehicle and charging technology, data analysis, and the energy economy. Rather than being limited to a single sub-aspect, you will independently shape the institute's technical contribution. Your work builds on the institute's prior work from the NEFTON and SPIRIT-E projects on heavy-duty electrification, vehicle-to-grid, and flexibility forecasting.

You will have access to extensive datasets and an interdisciplinary network of research, industry, and public-sector actors. As part of your doctorate, you will