Right now in battery-electric trucking, the so-called "sweet spot" is light- and medium-duty rigs, such as the Rivian-built Amazon delivery vans and refuse trucks, respectively.
Heavy-duty EV rigs are more complicated for many reasons but California-based Terawatt Infrastructure is pressing ahead by announcing its latest accomplishment.
This past week, Terawatt's MD and HD EV charging hub in Rancho Dominguez, California, just 12 miles north of the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles, became fully operational for fleet operations. Customers already include Dreaded Trucking, Hight Logistics, PepsiCo, Quick Container Drayage, Southern Counties Express, Tradelink Transport, and WestCoast Trucking & Warehousing.
[Related: 15 new Volvo VNR Electrics deploy at Ports of Los Angeles, Long Beach]
The site consists of 20 pull-through and bobtail DC fast charging stalls with a capacity of 7 Megawatts (MW), enabling charging for up to 125 trucks daily, specifically for drayage, local, and regional hauling.
Truckers are able to charge 24/7 thanks to in-house technicians, onsite parts management, and Terawatt's proprietary charge management system.
"This launch underscores growing collaboration between enterprises, shippers, carriers, and charging infrastructure providers to advance sustainable technologies across logistics and transportation operations, especially in the medium and heavy-duty sectors," said Neha Palmer, CEO and Cofounder of Terawatt. "With the launch of other sites in the Terawatt network – including our upcoming Rialto, CA site in June – fleets can create 'electric lanes' between the ports and the Inland Empire, enabling top-up charging that increases fleets' use of EV assets and drives a better total cost of ownership."
Terawatt isn't new to the commercial EV charging infrastructure market. It has already established charging sites in Inglewood and San Francisco for electric vans, box trucks, daycabs, and school buses.
In addition, it launched the I-10 Consortium along the I-10 electric corridor, a pilot project that tests long-haul, heavy-duty EV rigs running between Los Angeles and El Paso, Texas. Additional coalition members include A.P. Moller-Maersk, PepsiCo, and DB Schenker.
[Related: Daimler Trucks' EV semi network to have over 3,000 charging stations]
