Electric charging station opens at Port of Long Beach

A new WattEV charging station for electric heavy-duty trucks has officially opened at the Port of Long Beach.

The electric charging depot is the first of four in California developed by WattEV, and is the largest of its kind, the company said in a news release.

“There was a tremendous amount of effort that went into getting this site operational within 14 months,” said Salim Youssefzadeh, co-founder and CEO of WattEV. “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.”

Located near the Pier-A terminal in the Port of Long Beach, the charging station will serve heavy-duty electric trucks with routes connecting to inland destinations throughout Southern California.

WattEV says the Long Beach site will be the southern anchor of what it envisions at its electric-truck charging freight corridor.

The Long Beach, Calif.-based charging infrastructure developer also has plans for electric truck charging stations in Gardena, San Bernardino and Bakersfield.

“I’m so proud of the public-private partnership that this project represents,” said Liane Randolph, chair of the California Air Resources Board. “This is a major milestone to that zero-emission future we are building.”

At the Long Beach depot, there are 13 dual-cord CCS 360KW chargers capable of charging 26 trucks concurrently.

Youssefzadeh said a plan is in place to add megawatt charging to allow pass-through trucks to be charged in 20 minutes.

WattEV features a fleet of electric trucks hauling freight to and from the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles.

The company, whose mission is to accelerate the transition to all-electric transportation in the heavy-duty trucking industry, has set a goal of 12,000 heavy-duty electric trucks on California roads by the end of 2030. LL

More Land Line news from California.