WattEV electric vehicle company broke ground on the nation’s first electric truck charging station Thursday in Bakersfield.
The groundbreaking ceremony was held at the location of the truck stop, on Highway 65 just north of Meadows Field Airport. The 110 acre truck stop features a solar micro-grid with battery storage, plus regular power from PG&E.
The Los Angeles-based company said Bakersfield was the perfect spot to kick off this project.
“When you look at the whole I-5 corridor and what’s going on, this was the perfect place to start,” said Salim Youssefzadeh, a spokesperson for the company. “I mean, we were able to get a land that was large enough to test the many different technologies going into what we are doing.”
WattEV plans to build more electric truck stops along the Interstate 5 and Highway 99 trucking corridors through the Central Valley, the San Joaquin Valley and beyond.
When complete, Watt E-V said the truck stop will be able to charge up to 200 trucks per day. The project is expected to be completed by this time next year.