WattEV Inc., which earlier this year revealed plans for the country’s first 25-megawatt, solar-powered, electric-only public truck stop, announced that not only have they secured funding for the site but the company is expected to break ground in late October.
Dedicated to accelerating the heavy-duty trucking industry’s transition to electric drive, WattEV will receive a $5 million grant from the California Energy Commission (CEC) to build the truck stop, which is anticipated to be approved by the CEC at its September 8th monthly business meeting.
“Our successful private-equity seed funding, in addition to the grant awarded for this project, are important milestones in our effort to deploy 12,000 electric heavy-duty trucks on the road by 2030,” said Salim Youssefzadeh, CEO of WattEV. “The electric truck stop in Bakersfield is the first step toward our commitment to help build the charging infrastructure network necessary to accelerate the heavy-duty trucking sector’s transition to electric drive and get more heavy-duty electric trucks on the road in California as quickly as possible.”
“The electric truck stop in Bakersfield is the first step toward our commitment to help build the charging infrastructure network necessary to accelerate the heavy-duty trucking sector’s transition to electric drive.”
Partners joining WattEV and the CEC on the Bakersfield electric truck stop project include the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District, the Central California Asthma Collaborative, Greenlots, Power Electronics, and several others. WattEV is also in the planning stages for similar projects in San Bernardino and Gardena in Southern California, which will serve the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, as well as the surrounding warehouses.
Image: Watt EV
The first fleet partnership is with Total Transportation Services, Inc. (TTSI), which is currently making the transition to EV trucks to serve the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, as well the Bakersfield area. TTSI will be offering electric transport freight services to shippers in Southern California on routes served by WattEV’s platform.
“We’re delighted to partner with TTSI in the design and rollout of our TaaS software platform and deployment of our expanding charging network. We anticipate benefitting from their vast transport experience,” said Youssefzadeh.
WattEV is also developing an advanced software platform — trucks-as-a-service (TaaS) — designed specifically for the use of electric trucks within its network of charging stations on designated routes. The TaaS platform will help fleets and individual truckers meet requirements of shippers with sustainability goals while serving transporters with a viable economic model.
The TaaS platform will offer an all-inclusive, charge-per-mile formula that will enable a transporter to efficiently and cost-effectively use an electric truck to move goods normally handled with diesel trucks on the routes selected by shippers committed to clean air.
