WattEV develops three new megawatt charging depots in California
The Otay Mesa site will include seven MCS chargers and is being developed in cooperation with San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E). It is located less than a thousand feet from the US–Mexico border to support cross-border freight operations.
The Baker depot will deploy ten MCS chargers along the I-15 corridor to Southern Nevada. Developed with Southern California Edison (SCE), the site will serve long-haul routes to Las Vegas and surrounding regions.
At the Port of Long Beach, WattEV will install twelve MCS chargers as part of its capacity expansion at the facility. The company emphasises that the site will integrate Silicon Carbide-based medium-voltage power rectifiers and Solid-State Transformer (SST) technology developed by WattEV’s technology division, Charge America. The SST system removes the need for conventional step-down transformers, reducing installation complexity and cost. Each MCS cabinet is compactly installed between lanes, similar to diesel refuelling layouts.
The projects are supported by more than $24 million in grant funding from the State of California. All three sites are designed to reduce charging times for electric trucks to 30 minutes or less. The depots are located along critical freight corridors in alignment with California’s zero-emission transport infrastructure plans.
“The inflection point in freight electrification is arriving with the introduction of trucks capable of megawatt charging at scale,” said Salim Youssefzadeh, CEO of WattEV. “We see 2026 as the turning point, and we are building ahead of demand to ensure that all major freight corridors in California are ready.”
WattEV operates an integrated model that combines a fleet of Class 8 electric trucks, high-power charging depots, and a freight optimisation platform. Its Truck-as-a-Service (TaaS) programme currently delivers over 200,000 zero-emission freight miles per month.
WattEV aims to deploy 12,000 electric heavy-duty trucks in California by 2030. It just recently ordered 40 all-electric Tesla Semi. The company currently operates five charging depots and has 15 more under development, targeting 100 operational sites by 2035.
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