Release Log & Developer Roadmap¶

Track the version release history, major feature updates, and future development plans for VoltFracht, the European electric logistics simulation.

🚀 Developer Roadmap¶

Solo developer Sebastian Giove actively develops VoltFracht in close collaboration with the player community. Below is the current feature roadmap:

Upcoming Version 0.19 — Driver & Staff Management¶

• Personnel System (Personal & Fahrer): Introduce a dedicated staff management section where dispatchers hire, train, and manage e-truck drivers.
• Driver Skill Qualification: Train drivers across specialized vehicle classes, energy-efficient driving techniques, and handling hazardous cargo.
• Experience Progression: Driver experience levels will influence vehicle battery efficiency, turnaround times, and contract bonuses.
• Fleet Overview Preview (Meine Flotte): All trucks at a glance — status (ready, en route, charging, loading), battery level, location, destination, and route progress. Tapping a truck opens its route, charging plan, and consumption details. With PRO, actual consumption is shown as a rolling average of recent trips (the last few hundred kilometres weighted most); PRO+ adds the deviation from the model's factory spec (valid at half load, 70 km/h, 15 °C) — green below, red above. Used trucks initially display the previous owner's consumption and converge to the buyer's own after roughly 1'000 driven kilometres. Custom truck names accept letters, numbers, and punctuation (no symbols or emoji); the leading number (e.g. #3) remains the unique identifier in settlements.

Upcoming Version 0.20 — Multi-Depot Fleet Expansion¶

• Regional Depots: Expand your logistics enterprise beyond your home depot by acquiring secondary company depots across major European cities.
• Fleet Cap Allocation: Active dispatchable trucks remain capped at 12 vehicles per depot to maintain strategic dispatch depth without micromanagement clutter.
• Relocation Strategy: Secondary depots allow regional fleet staging, dramatically reducing costly empty repositioning runs (Leerfahrten).

Future Modules — Heavy Transport & Customization¶

• Heavy Transport (Schwerlast): Specialized multi-axle heavy transport e-trucks, oversized cargo licences, and custom route clearances.
• Leaderboard Titles & Badges: Earn custom dispatcher titles, prefixes, and badges displayed on international leaderboards based on company milestones.
• Short-Haul Rebalancing: Ongoing economic adjustments to refine contract profitability ratios between short regional runs and long cross-border hauls.
• PRO Subscription Perks: 2 additional order-queue slots and a 20 % discount on all boosts for PRO subscribers.
• Test Community: A dedicated test environment where selected players try new features before release, report bugs with screenshots, complete test tasks, and give direct feedback.

📜 Version Release History¶

Version 0.18 — European Tour & Charging Overhaul¶

Released 18 October 2026 across Web, with mobile builds following after web stabilization period.

Core Features¶

Patch Updates¶

0.18.396 (30 October 2026) — Ferry Charging Planning Fix¶

• Ferry Charging Planning: The charging planner treated the ferry port as a destination, so before a crossing it charged only what was needed to reach the harbor — not the configured target state-of-charge. Root cause: the 0.18.232 cap that limits the last charging stop before a destination to the actually required amount. Applies from the next route planning; ongoing tours keep their existing plan.
• Harbor Leg: The harbor stage still only requires 50 km of remaining range on arrival at the port. Whether this suffices in practice is being monitored through player feedback on ferry crossings in the coming days.

0.18.394 & 0.18.395 (29 October 2026)¶

• Client: Swiss flag display corrected.
• Planning: Route calculation display issue reported by a player fixed, plus several smaller fixes noticed alongside.

0.18.389 (28 October 2026) — Server Performance Overhaul¶

• Routing Server: Responses exceeded the send buffer and aborted mid-transmission (283 aborts in the hour before the fix; zero since). Route calculation time dropped from ~3.5 s to under 1 s.
• Charging Plan Completeness: Long tours occasionally went out with no charging plan at all (reported case: 4'107 km to Helsinki with zero charging stops). After the fix, none of 139 long tours were affected.
• Charger Search: Searching for charging stations along a route performed over 20 million unnecessary computation steps per planning run; rebuilt.
• Finance Page: A new booking type was not recognized by the category overview, sending the finance page into an error state for ~1.5 hours before being fixed.

Deal Payout Bug & Compensation (27 October 2026)¶

• Bug: Players who negotiated a deal for a long trip, dispatched the truck, and logged out lost the deal bonus on arrival — on re-login the deal was discarded as expired because the truck had already arrived.
• Server Update: 09:00, ~10 minute pause. Bug sealed.
• Compensation: 938 deliveries across 90 accounts totalling €39'951'786 in lost deal bonuses (smallest case €3'335, largest €124'450). Each case reconstructed individually; 82 cases excluded (truck already en route before the handshake, a second truck to the same city, or the trip started after the deal expired). Compensation paid as individual bookings in finances.
• Leaderboards: Pumpkin leaderboard unaffected (kilometre-based). Wealth leaderboard shifts only marginally — 0.3 % of total player wealth; 60 accounts change rank (largest climb +4 places, largest drop −2), top 10 unchanged.
• Android: Version 0.18.382 is now available on Google Play.

0.18.386 (27 October 2026) — Dispatch & Deal Latency¶

• Server Update: 01:00, offline for ~15 minutes. Running tours unaffected.
• Targets delays when dispatching trucks and handling deals. Root cause not yet fully identified; tuning parameters included for the coming days.
• Weather Query: On repeated errors, now falls back to the last known value instead of blocking requests.
• Routing Under Load: The OSRM query buffer was increased. Peak load now exceeds 1'500 simultaneously driving trucks; since 0.18 every en-route truck can be replanned manually and every slider change triggers a new route calculation — the resulting load had been underestimated.

Silent Security Update (25 October 2026)¶

• Latest security patches applied server-side. No version change (remains 0.18.382).

0.18.382 (22 October 2026)¶

• Server Update: Scheduled for 01:00, server restart required (tours continue, reconnection needed)
• Charging Stop Ownership: User-modified stops (column swapped or target SoC adjusted) now display a hand icon and are preserved during route replanning. Planner adds intermediate stops if needed rather than replacing user stops.
• Remove Stop Button: New "Remove stop" button allows deletion of redundant charging stops without full route rebuild. Planner prevents removal only if stop is essential.
• UI Fixes: Dashed line reliably indicates empty trips to chargers. Kilometre display formatting now consistent across all views.
• Mobile Apps: New builds submitted to Android and iOS stores, containing all 0.18 features (Tour through Europe, savings pot, used truck purchase into The Hall, plug queue countdowns, per-category notifications, and complete charging planning). Release timing depends on store review.

0.18.376 & 0.18.377 (21 October 2026)¶

• Ferries: Fixed ferry symbol incorrectly applying to 15 km land approach on each side, creating approximately 12'500 km of free travel. Now only actual sea crossings are zero-cost; land travel consumes energy normally.
• Used Marketplace: Trucks can now be purchased directly into The Hall. Previously blocked when depot was full despite available Hall slots. Slot counting now matches shop behavior: stored trucks and own listings do not block depot slots.
• Charging Stops: Reachability calculations corrected for station swapping. Zero-benefit stops (e.g., 36%→36%) now skippable.
• Display: Loading/unloading now shows correct status with progress instead of generic travel status. Menu and leaderboard stability improved. White tour line visibility restored.
• Syndicate & Notifications: Leader actions now provide explicit feedback on rejection reasons. All four notification categories are now accessible with browser toggle.
• Android: Google login defect fixed (app used incorrect credentials since launch). Requires Store update; until then, use voltfracht.sgio.app in browser for same account access.

0.18.362 (20 October 2026)¶

• Charging Stops: Station swapping reachability and distance calculations fixed. "Nicht erreichbar" now correctly indicates distance issues rather than offline status. Plug availability updates live instead of freezing at first state. Wishlist stations can be further off-route.
• Freight Exchange: "Nur mein Standort" now correctly finds cargo near charging stations. Location persistence after arrival fixed, preventing erroneous empty leg calculations.
• Sparmodus: Stationary trucks can now be sent to charge (previously required map view). Charging panel displays target truck with switching capability. Trucks at chargers no longer hide the entire panel.
• UI: White tour chains restored on map. Boost notifications attached to action button. Daily goals scaled more gradually for top players.

0.18.315 (18 October 2026)¶

• Routes: Fixed "truck cannot proceed" errors around Calais caused by boundary crossing the Channel, creating island effect for 38 chargers. Display distance now shows actual route distance (e.g., Split-Bari corrected from 272 km to 1'441 km). "Arrival 0 %" fixed for distant chargers.
• Syndicate & Tour: White tour line now appears on map regardless of prior syndicate access. Savings goals pay full rewards (previously at 1/10^th). Points now visible in finances. "Fahrbar" filter no longer shows completed own stages. Stage acceptance pre-selects truck at location.
• Dealmaker: Fixed overly aggressive demand cap flattening the curve. Curve peaks restored.
• UI: Fixed windows becoming unreachable on smaller screens. Hall sales work again even with full depot. Navigation bar restored on Android without map. Map tab no longer counts stored trucks as "in transit". Charger occupancy now visible on open instead of requiring tap. Status messages no longer appear in English.
• Notifications: Eliminated duplicate push banners while in-game.

Release Process: Version 0.18 underwent 5-7 day internal testing with community participants on test server before web release. Mobile Store builds to follow after web stabilization and bug collection period.

Version 0.17.200 — Display Fixes & Halloween Special Launch¶

Released 04 October 2026 across Web.

System Improvements¶

• Fixed Discord link in game settings (previous time-limited invitation expired, replaced with permanent link)
• Coin breakdown display now correctly itemizes: Base Coins, PRO Bonus, and Total Coin Credit (previously appeared as confusing additions)
• 44t truck payload bar visibility restored in dark theme (bar colour matched background)
• Channel addresses moved to database for centralized management without requiring app releases

Halloween Special Event (03 October 2026 - 31 October 2026)¶

• Pumpkin Cargo: Special seasonal freight available only as 7.5 t and 18 t orders. 40 t trucks receive 18 t payout with no size advantage.
• Spectre Trucks: Limited Halloween edition Spectre 7.5 t 2026 and Spectre 18 t 2026 with double points for pumpkin cargo
• Leaderboard: Dedicated weekly rankings with rewards for pumpkin hauling

Version 0.17 — Storage Hall & Marketplace Filters¶

Released 30 September 2026 across Web and Mobile stores.

• The Hall: Vehicle storage facility allowing dispatchers to park idle trucks off-slot, preserving mileage and resale value without selling. Trucks in Hall do not consume depot slots.
• Freight Exchange Upgrade:
  • Multi-select cargo group filters with collapsible filter panels
  • Location-based proximity search (Nur mein Standort)
  • Tonnage filtering
  • Revenue yield sorting (Umsatz/km)
  • Freight exchange now loads only when tab is opened, reducing mobile data usage and battery consumption
• Deals Integration:
  • Direct deal indicators on job listings
  • Quick links connecting active deals to freight exchange searches
  • Deal handshake now evaluates click rather than arrival
• Fair-Play Rules:
  • Removal of Coin-to-Euro currency conversions (prevented ranking exploitation)
  • Capping Coin-funded depot slot upgrades at Level 8
  • Coins valid only for action trucks, once per account
• Bug Fixes:
  • Fixed new players starting with 0 € outside 37 cities (start capital present but not displayed)
  • Fixed app reloading on every third new player with 10-12 second hang
  • Fixed missing kilometer markers corrupting entire tours
  • PRO bonus now displayed in settlements (was being paid but not shown)
  • "Profitability per vehicle" no longer duplicates vehicles on reload
  • Own depot now always shows correct flag

Patch Update¶

0.17.198 (02 October 2026)¶

• Tonnage filtering in freight exchange, fleet info visible in syndicate leaderboard, charging screen cleanup, mobile temperature optimization through reduced background loading

Version 0.16 — Stability & Connectivity¶

Released 29 September 2026.

• Connection Stability:
  • Fixed map loop rendering crashes on iOS hardware
  • Optimized server-client web socket reconnects
  • Reduced data transfer on connection (no longer sending all player routes, only user's own routes)
• Performance:
  • Server-side fixes for database access bottlenecks during player surges
  • Server optimizations significantly reduced response times
• Economic Adjustments:
  • Removed Coin-to-Euro currency conversion
  • Depot slot upgrades with Coins capped at Level 8
• Bug Fixes:
  • Trucks with less than 10 % battery no longer permanently stuck (fixed outdated charger IDs)
  • PRO bonus no longer drops to 0 % when arriving while offline
  • Fixed trucks missing from fleet overview after offline completion (display error only; trucks were never actually lost)
  • Delivery notifications now show correct credited amount
  • iOS: Fixed keyboard causing content to jump out of view
  • Mobile: Reduced charger icon size on Europe view to prevent map obstruction

Version 0.15 — Used Truck Marketplace¶

Released early September 2026.

• P2P Marketplace: Player-to-player vehicle trading with customizable listing prices and instant depot slot release upon posting.
• Instant Sell (Sofortverkauf): Algorithmic instant cash liquidation based on mileage depreciation.
• Early Bird 7S: 30-day limited collector e-truck with a nominal market value of €150'000.
• Responsive Mobile UI: Complete landscape layout redesign and simplified mobile navigation panels.
• Bug Fixes: Addressed connection stability issues affecting iOS users with version 0.15.70 (excessive data transfer causing disconnections).

Version 0.14 & Earlier — Core Engine Launch¶

Released August 2026.

• Simulation Foundation: Launch of the core European logistics map spanning 31 countries and 103 cities.
• Data Stream Integrations: Integration of OpenChargeMap station data, ENTSO-E daily spot energy pricing, OSRM routing, HERE traffic, and SRTM elevation profiles.
• Vehicle Classes: Initial deployment of 7.5 t, 18 t, 26 t, and 44 t electric truck classes.