An electric-vehicle infrastructure company has plans to build the first 25-megawatt, solar-powered, electric-only public truck stop in the U.S. to serve electric truck transport in California.
WattEV is building an electric truck stop at a heavily truck-trafficked highway intersection in Bakersfield, located at the southern end of California’s San Joaquin Valley. The 110-acre truck stop, positioned near logistics fulfillment centers run by Amazon and Walmart, will feature a solar micro-grid with battery storage, plus grid energy from Pacific Gas & Electric.
Partners in the project include the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District, Greenlots, Power Electronics, the Central California Asthma Collaborative, heavy-duty truck makers, PG&E and others. Initial output from the WattEV electric truck stop will include 4-megawatt (MW) capability, eventually growing to 25-MW feeding more than 40 charging bays.
WattEV also has developed a business model for the truck transport industry, labeled Trucks as a Service (TaaS), that opens the transition path for transporters to use battery-electric trucks.
“We aim to enable the addition of 12,000 heavy-duty battery electric trucks to the roads in California by the end of 2030, exceeding existing forecasts,” said WattEV CEO Salim Youssefzadeh in a press release. “If it works in California, it’ll work just about anywhere in the country.”
WattEV has already reserved its first 50 Tesla Semis and plans to place more orders with other OEMs.
