Inside WattEV’s plan for commercial electrification

Commercial charging infrastructure provider WattEV is addressing commercial heavy-duty EV infrastructure, technology, and trucking as it looks to grow the commercial EV industry. 

With a potential inventory crisis ahead as California and other states sign onto the California Air Resources Board (CARB) emissions mandate, Long Beach, Calif.-based WattEV aims to help meet the electrification needs through multiple ventures, Salim Youssefzadeh, chief executive and co-founder of charging and electric truck provider WattEV, told EFN. 

“We sort of evolved the business into where it is now, where we’re not only an infrastructure provider, but we’re also a technology provider,” he said. “We future-proof all of our sites because we see the path towards going from where the technology is today to where it needs to be, being megawatt charging.” 

CARB mandates that heavy-duty vehicles reduce nitrous oxide emissions beginning with model year 2027, according to CARB’s website. Under the new emissions standards, EVs and other zero-emission vehicles represent the only units with the capacity to meet the requirements, prompting the new for more EVs and infrastructure in California.

EV truck as a service

In addition to charging depots and chargers in four California locations, WattEV has developed a truck-as-a-service program to facilitate owner operators’ transition to EVs, Youssefzadeh said. The program includes access to electric trucks from multiple OEMs, 24/7 charging at all WattEV locations, and maintenance and customer support. 

“Beyond the infrastructure and technology piece, we also have a transportation piece, because we know that the industry is made up primarily of owner-operators, and these are carriers that can’t afford infrastructure or can’t afford the trucks,” he said. “We, in a sense, created this truck as a service to allow them to get into electric trucks, all inclusive of the vehicle, the maintenance, damage insurance and infrastructure, all on a fixed price per month, on routes that we’ve tested ourselves with relationships that we’ve built with shippers.” 

WattEV has received $75.6 million in federal grants to expand its truck-charging network, according to a Jan. 17 press release, and has raised a total of $66.5 million in more than six rounds of funding, according to Crunchbase. 

California EV growth 

WattEV’s truck-as-a-service fleet currently consists of about 30 EV trucks across different manufacturers. The company has tested BYD, Daimler, Volvo, Nikola, and other units, and views its fleet as a key element to growing electrification in California, Youssefzadeh said. 

“The goal is to create a solution to the masses, which are the owner operators and the users that need it the most,” he said. “We create those relationships, create those lanes for them, and then be able to offer to them as a service, all inclusive of everything.” 

The company intends to expand its heavy-duty EV fleet to more than 180 units, in part with the addition of 53 Volvo zero-emission vehicles through a deal with Portland-based truck dealer TEC Equipment, according to a WattEV release. 

In California, 2023 sales of heavy-duty zero-emission Class 7 and Class 8 tractors, or those weighing over 26,000 pounds, totaled 354 units, up 234% YoY from 2022, according to the Advance Clean Trucks report published by the CARB on May 22. 

Developing relationships 

Not only is WattEV pushing the adoption of heavy-duty EVs, but it is also partnering with shipping and freight companies to ensure charging demand ahead of site development, Youssefzadeh said. Knowing where freight is going gives insight into the availability of grants at those locations, and of the local power grid, he said. 

 “There’s a lot that goes into the infrastructure piece every time we want to expand, but every new market we go into, we back it up with … customer pipelines and that demand already there, so that those sites don’t just go and sit idle,” Youssefzadeh said. 

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