WattEV, a medium- and heavy-duty electric truck charging infrastructure developer, is increasing its current fleet of 36 battery electric trucks to more than 180 by the end of 2024. The increase comes on the heels of WattEV’s expansion of its charging depots to five locations within the past month.
“We’ve been using and testing trucks in our fleet from all the major OEMs,” says WattEV CEO Salim Youssefzadeh, adding that WattEV will be taking delivery of the first new batch of 53 zero-emission trucks in June from TEC Equipment, the dealer for Volvo’s VNR Electric.
“As a significant dealer in California and major supplier of electric heavy-duty trucks, we forged an alliance with WattEV in 2021, believing that they will become a leader in electrification of heavy-duty freight,” says Chris Thompson, vice president of Truck Sales at TEC Equipment. “Our delivery to WattEV — along with over 200 electric trucks delivered to prominent fleets across the West Coast — places us among the top suppliers in the rapidly expanding California market.”
Once its fleet is expanded to 89 trucks, WattEV will take delivery of another 100 trucks under order from different OEMs, bringing its total fleet capacity to 189 Class 8 battery-electric trucks, which would make it the largest deployment among current electric commercial fleet operators.
WattEV has placed megawatt charging (MCS) at all of its depots. Youssefzadeh says the firm stands ready to place orders for “thousands” of MCS-capable, Class 8 trucks to meet the demand with energy available from its expanding MCS-capable charging depot network.
“We’re encouraged to see major manufacturers like Tesla stepping forward with future delivery of trucks with megawatt charging capability,” he says. “Reducing the charge time to less than 30 minutes for a 300-mile range will be a game-changer in the adoption of electric trucks. We developed all of our charging facilities to allow for transitioning from the current CCS charging standard to the new fast MCS charging, in preparation for this evolution.”
Trucks on its platform will be deployed via WattEV’s Truck-as-a-Service (TaaS) operations and charged at the firm’s public, rapid-charge depot network: five depots open now in California with the world’s largest truck charging depot in Bakersfield featuring MCS chargers, solar power and battery storage.
WattEV has spent the past three years building out the freight corridors in California and neighboring states for the nation’s first public-access medium- and heavy-duty EV charging network. This includes large-scale solar-powered charging depots from San Diego to Seattle-Tacoma; on Interstate 5 and along the CA 99 highway; and from Los Angeles to Phoenix, Arizona, on Interstate 10.