WattEV opens electric commercial truck charging depot

The new WattEV depot will serve as the southern anchor of the company’s planned electric-truck freight corridor, which will connect to major freight routes throughout the West. (Photo: WattEV)

WattEV, a commercial-truck charging infrastructure developer, has opened what it said is the United States’ largest charging station of its kind for electric heavy-duty trucks at the Port of Long Beach.

“There was a tremendous amount of effort that went into getting this site operational within 14 months,” said WattEV co-founder and CEO Salim Youssefzadeh during the grand opening ceremony July 24. “WattEV has been working on opening four depots in California for the past few years. The Long Beach depot was actually the last of the four to go under contract and into development, but it’s the first to open.”

Branded as WattEV, the depot is located adjacent to the Pier-A terminal in the Port of Long Beach and will serve heavy-duty electric trucks with routes connecting to inland destinations throughout Southern California.

The site has 13 dual-cord Combined Charging System (CCS) 360 KW chargers with the ability to charge 26 trucks concurrently with 5 MW of power provided by Southern California Edison (SCE).

“We also plan to add megawatt charging at this depot which allows pass-through trucks to be charged in 20 minutes,” Youssefzadeh said.

The project is the first of several WattEV electric truck charging depots that are in the works throughout California, including warehouse districts in Gardena, as well as San Bernardino and Bakersfield.

The grand opening of the WattEV charging depot was attended by industry, government and environmental partners and stakeholders. (Photo: WattEV)

The WattEV depot will serve as the southern anchor of the company’s planned electric-truck charging freight corridor, which will connect to major freight routes throughout the West. It is expected to serve the company’s growing fleet of electric trucks operating on its Truck-as-a-Service platform, hauling freight to and from the combined ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles, which receive some 40% of the nation’s containerized imports.

The depot’s CCS system is the current charging standard for heavy-duty electric trucks, while the Megawatt Charging System (MCS) standard for faster charging systems is being finalized. When trucks with megawatt charging capability become available, the company said more pass-through e-truck bays are planned at the charging plaza, offering MCS rated for charging at up to 1.2 MW.