Fleets are constantly paying attention to the bottom line. Making the switch from traditional diesel rigs, especially Class 8s, to battery-electrics can be an unsettling.
That's where WattEV enters the scene. The California-based Trucking-as-a-Service (TaaS) company continues to make impressive progress towards building what will be America's largest electric truck fleet.
Clean Trucking spoke to WattEV CEO and Founder Salim Youssefzadeh at the 2025 ACT Expo for a follow-up from our 2024 interview at the same event. Learn how the TaaS model is scaling electric freight by maximizing truck utilization, building smart route networks, and minimizing empty miles.
00;00;00;00 - 00;00;11;04
Salim Youssefzadeh
And shippers. I mean, if we're going to them and saying, hey, we can electrify your freight at the same price of diesel and you meet your sustainability goals, you know, there is a sort of perk up and they're willing to at least hear us out.
00;00;11;11 - 00;00;38;21
Jay Traugott
It almost sounds too good to be true. Electric freight at the same cost is diesel. But at the 2025 Act Expo, what EV CEO and founder Selim Yousef said. He says that's exactly what they're doing. So how are they pulling it off, and which electric truck is doing the heavy lifting? What EV is it trucking as a service provider offering everything as shipper or carrier needs to electrify their operation at Expo 2024.
00;00;38;27 - 00;00;49;04
Jay Traugott
I spoke with Saleem about how what EV planned to build the largest electric truck fleet in the US this year. I caught up with him again to find out what they're doing with that fleet now.
00;00;49;09 - 00;01;10;13
Salim Youssefzadeh
Really, over the past year, we focused a lot on growing our fleet, growing our relationships with shippers, and just hauling as much freight as possible. And today we've got about 80 trucks in our fleet made up of all the various OEMs. We also have two of the Tesla Semis that we're putting to the works, and they perform pretty well, but we're doing close to about 75,000 miles loaded.
00;01;10;13 - 00;01;23;24
Salim Youssefzadeh
So actually moving freight a week. And we're doing that every week. So it's really been about refining our relationship with the shippers, seeing how we can expand that, and then creating routing engines and optimizations off of that to really grow it before.
00;01;23;24 - 00;01;33;19
Jay Traugott
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00;01;33;21 - 00;01;55;04
Salim Youssefzadeh
The shipper side of things. I mean, they obviously care about sustainability, but they're not willing to pay more for it. And very few of them are. And if you do find one, you're very lucky to keep that shipper as close as possible. But, you know, regardless of what the mandates are or what the regulatory environment is, shippers have those sustainability goals and they want to meet those targets.
00;01;55;07 - 00;02;20;22
Salim Youssefzadeh
But again, they're not willing to pay for it. So is there a way where we could come in and move those at par with diesel rates? And the only way to do that is if you increase utilization of that asset. So that you can really, you know, be competitive on those diesel rates. So what we're actually doing is that we've basically created a load pipeline with from all of the shippers that we're working with, and start creating optimal routes for electric trucks.
00;02;20;23 - 00;02;40;27
Salim Youssefzadeh
As you know, electric trucks come with a number of more constraints over a diesel truck, right. And what we've done is that based off of those load pools that we have, we can come in and create optimal tours for our drivers. So a perfect example is that I have, you know, a load that needs to go from San Bernardino down to San Diego.
00;02;40;29 - 00;03;02;28
Salim Youssefzadeh
That's about a hundred miles, a little over 100 miles. What we try to do is is there a matching load to come back up? Right. So if I was to do just one way with an EV, even with the diesel, it's not really economical. But what we're able to do is match those returns and then also factor in the charging times to see, you know, how long will it take to charge when that when that next truck will be ready.
00;03;03;00 - 00;03;21;20
Salim Youssefzadeh
So we're really pushing the utilization of these assets as much as possible. And yes, we're doing, you know, close to 75,000 miles a week, even more sometimes. But on a truck basis, some trucks are doing 500 miles or more a day, which on a, you know, a legacy OEM that has 300 mile range, we're pushing it to the limits.
00;03;21;23 - 00;03;34;13
Jay Traugott
In other words, what EV is electrifying freight at diesel prices by squeezing every bit of value from their trucks with smart routing and carefully planned return trips. Their fleet rarely runs empty. Currently, how.
00;03;34;13 - 00;03;36;09
Jay Traugott
Many charging depots do you.
00;03;36;09 - 00;03;54;09
Salim Youssefzadeh
Have? We have five online today. I'm covering most of the Southern California basin. I mean, that's more than any other heavy duty charging fleet has today. And, really it's continually growing. So we've got another 15 sites in the works that cover the entire West Coast. These are all shovel ready. Have grants tied to them, and we're moving full force.
00;03;54;12 - 00;04;03;10
Jay Traugott
Now, I remember not long ago what EV announced that you're going to be gathering, more Tesla semis into the fleet along with the Tesla semis. What are the other rigs that you're running?
00;04;03;11 - 00;04;10;03
Salim Youssefzadeh
Yeah. So right now in our fleet, we've got, BYD's, Volvo's, Nikola's, and then the, the, the Tesla semis as well.
00;04;10;09 - 00;04;13;03
Jay Traugott
Are there any of them, particular standouts?
00;04;13;05 - 00;04;39;02
Salim Youssefzadeh
The Tesla Semi has performed pretty well for us, right? I mean, we've tested all of the major manufacturers and, being able to charge very quickly and have a lot more range. It definitely allows us to expand, you know, what, what we can get. All right. So for instance, if I look at, you know, a Nikola or Volvo, your your range is very close to 300 miles, if not less.
00;04;39;05 - 00;04;59;13
Salim Youssefzadeh
And, your charge rate is going to take about 2 to 3 hours. Now going to the Tesla Semi, we have a 500 mile range. We've got megawatt charging capability. That means our charge time from 2 to 3 hours down to, you know, 60 minutes, maybe less than when you're charging at a 1200 kilowatt rate. So you're charging very, very quickly and you're able to get that truck back on the road and hauling more freight.
00;04;59;13 - 00;05;06;04
Salim Youssefzadeh
So so that only increases our utilization of those assets. That also increases the radius of which those trucks can operate.
00;05;06;07 - 00;05;16;24
Jay Traugott
Okay. Well, Celine, once again, thank you very much for your time. Anyone who wants to see our interview from last year, check out the link below. And thank you so much. And can we talk to you next year?
00;05;16;24 - 00;05;17;02
Salim Youssefzadeh
See you.
