WattEV opens truck charging at Long Beach
In May this year, WattEV ordered 14 Nikola Tre BEVs, having already begun installing the corresponding charging infrastructure at the Californian port. The site is supplied with 5MW of power provided by Southern California Edison (SCE). WattEV also plans to add megawatt charging to the truck charging park.
The newly opened charging depot will serve the WattEV electric truck fleet that operates on its Truck-as-a-Service platform, hauling freight to and from the combined ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles. This seaport generates around 100 billion US dollars per year in trade and employs more than 316,000 people. The Port of Los Angeles is a separate, adjoining seaport managed by the Los Angeles Harbor Department.
The Port of Long Beach (POLB) project is the first of several WattEV electric truck charging depots in progress in California. These include warehouse districts in nearby Gardena, inland near San Bernardino, and north in Bakersfield.
WattEV co-founder and CEO Salim Youssefzadeh credited the team for how quickly the depot came online: “There was a tremendous amount of effort that went into getting this site operational within 14 months.” Youssefzadeh explained, “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!”
While WattEV’s facility will support the first batch of 14 Nikola electric trucks, the fleet is expected to expand to over 100 electric trucks by the end of 2023, with the opening of additional charging depots in Southern California.
The Port is quickly electrifying with efforts from numerous players. Late last year, the Port of Long Beach was awarded a grant for cargo-handling EVs. WattEV is not the only company operating Nikola trucks at the port, Total Transportation Services (TSSI) also has its first trucks on the ground with an order totalling more than 100 Nikola Tre battery electric trucks. Transport company 4 Gen Logistics ordered 41 VNR electric trucks from Volvo Trucks North America for use in operations to and from the port, and an electric highway for trucks is under operation for trucks transporting goods from the port to other locations.
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