TeraWatt reveals plans for high-power charging corridor along I-10
TeraWatt Infrastructure, founded by ex-Google energy strategist Neha Palmer, has announced what it will do with its recent billion-dollar funding. Among the most concrete projects is a corridor for ultra-rapid charging of electric trucks.
A network of high-power charging centres will spring up along the Interstate 10 highway, announces TeraWatt. The I-10 stretches from the Port of Long Beach, California, to El Paso in Texas, with TeraWatt Charging Centers to be spread across California, Arizona, and New Mexico.
While more precise location data has yet to be published, the target is having such HPC centres about every 150 miles and less than one mile from the nearest highway exit. Each site will measure between four to 100 acres, depending on location, so TeraWatt.
The company adds, each centre will feature “dozens of DC chargers” lining pull-through charging stalls. Among the on-site driver amenities and potential renewable energy installations, i.e. battery back-ups.
While not specifically said today, TeraWatt’s business model includes acquiring real estate in locations strategically relevant to fleets to then develop the energy and charging infrastructure required to operate commercial vehicles on a large scale.
CEO Neha Palmer added, their real estate and energy infrastructure development platform uniquely positioned TeraWatt to solve the ‘charging problem’ for trucking operators, making freight electrification achievable within their operations.
For the I-10 network, TeraWatt is banking on partnering with local and state governments and utilities and says it was planning to leverage various grants and incentives.
The company was founded in May 2021 and is led by Neha Palmer, who was most recently responsible for the energy strategy for Google’s global data centres. TeraWatt received funding of over one billion dollars this September from mostly unnamed backers.
Commenting then, the CEO already hinted they would announce “the largest and most ambitious charging project to date for the electrification of long-haul transportation along a major highway corridor”.
According to Palmer, part of TeraWatt’s strategy is to start the development process early enough to work with utilities from the beginning. “There will have to be a lot of collaboration between stakeholders, including grid owners, operators, utilities, regulators and end users, to ensure that the grid can evolve alongside the shift to electric transportation.”
TeraWatt has yet to name potential partners, including charging infrastructure suppliers or trucking companies. The statement did not include a timeline for the I-10 project.
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