Southern California-based WattEV is showing no signs of slowing down its expansion plans.
[Related: WattEV breaks ground on Port of Oakland depot, creating future zero-emission freight corridor]
The Trucking-as-a-Service (TaaS) company has just announced it has three more charging depots under development in the Golden State which, upon completion, will deploy 29-high capacity Megawatt Charging System (MCS) units that'll support an estimated 100,000 charging sessions annually.
The new depots are located at:
Otay Mesa, near the U.S.–Mexico border in San Diego County, will boast seven MCS chargers. The site is being developed in coordination with San Diego Gas & Electric.
Baker, along the I-15 corridor between Southern California and Nevada. A total of 10 MCS chargers are planned with partner Southern California Edison.
Port of Long Beach, expanding capacity at the nation’s busiest container port will include 12 MCS chargers. This site stands out because it'll have next-generation Silicon Carbide-based medium-voltage power rectifiers developed in-house by WattEV's Charge America technology division, which utilized its proprietary Solid State Transformer (SST).
According to WattEV, the SST tech "eliminates the need for conventional step-down transformers, dramatically reducing installation complexity and cost. Each MCS cabinet is compactly installed between lanes, mimicking the layout of traditional diesel fueling stations."
These sites, chosen due to their proximity to vital freight corridors, are being engineered to provided less than 30-minute charging times, a key goal to bring Class 8 battery-electric commercial truck refueling closer to diesel standards.
"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."
Youssefzadeh sat down with Clean Trucking earlier this year at the 2025 ACT Expo and provided some progress updates towards building what could become America's largest electric truck fleet.
The company, which has received over $24 million in grants from California, is now delivering over 200,000 zero-emission freight miles each month thanks to its five operational charging depots. By 2030 it's aiming to deploy 12,000 electric heavy-duty rigs in California, and to have 100 depots in operation by 2035.
Jay Traugott has covered the automotive and transportation sector for over a decade and now serves as Senior Editor for Clean Trucking. He holds a drifting license and has driven on some of the world's best race tracks, including the Nurburgring and Spa. He lives near Boulder, Colorado and spends his free time snowboarding and backcountry hiking. He can be reached at [email protected].
