California will be home to first electric-only “Megawatt E-Truck Stop”

Startup company, WattEV plans to build a 25-megawatt electric-only solar-powered truck stop in Bakersfield, California.

The site will be open to the public, but WattEV also plans to use the charging stations for its own fleet of vehicles.

Located at a major highway intersection, the 110-acre site sits at the southern end of California’s San Joaquin Valley, and is located near Amazon and Walmart logistics fulfillment centers, a WattEV press release said. 

The WattEV electric truck stop will start off with 4-MW capability, eventually growing to 25-MW feeding more than 40 charging stalls, reported Microgrid Knowledge.

The site will have a solar micro-grid with battery energy storage, but will also get grid electricity from local utility Pacific Gas & Electric, stated the release.

WattEV has already reserved 50 Tesla Semis, and plans to place more orders with other manufacturers, with plans of putting 12,000 heavy-duty battery-electric trucks on California roads within the next decade.

“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 Salim Youssefzadeh, CEO of WattEV. “If it works in California, it’ll work just about anywhere in the country.”

“Focusing on the revenue and profit potential of an electric truck, rather than the fixed and variable cost of owning a new or used diesel truck, is how we can get more drivers into more electric trucks more quickly,” added Youssefzadeh. “Waiting for the market to mature organically – at the rate it’s currently going – could take more than a decade. Our aim is to fast-track the transition to electric truck transport by doing things a little differently.”

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