TeraWatt Breaks Ground on First Heavy-Duty Truck Facility
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TeraWatt Infrastructure broke ground Nov. 2 on its first heavy-duty electric truck charging site in California, the company said.
The facility in Rancho Dominguez is located fewer than 15 miles north of the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, and is slated to be operational by July 2024. Construction is expected to take seven to eight months, the company said, and the site will house a total of 20 pull-through and bobtail direct-current fast-charging stalls. The facility will have capacity to charge up to 125 trucks per day. San Francisco-based TeraWatt said PepsiCo has already committed to using the facility for last-mile delivery charging in the Los Angeles area.
“The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach stand as pivotal hubs for our nation’s strategic shipping operations, distinguished as some of the busiest and most critical ports in the country,” said TeraWatt CEO Neha Palmer. “We know that with proper infrastructure in place, EV adoption will quickly accelerate in this region. We look forward to being at the forefront of this transition by providing the full stack solutions that enable fleets to seamlessly electrify their operations for both the near- and long-term.”
TeraWatt acquired two sites in California’s Inland Empire region to build heavy-duty electric truck charging sites for an undisclosed sum, the company said in early October. With the largest concentration of warehouses and distribution centers in the United States, the Inland Empire is a key hub for heavy-duty fleet operations.
The two sites, in the Agua Mansa Industrial Corridor and in Fontana, near the Interstate 10 and I-15 interchange, are scheduled to be operational in 2025, the company said. When built, the two sites will jointly provide more than 40 megawatts of power, supporting up to 500 trucks per day. TeraWatt plans to use 350-kilowatt chargers at the site.
Longer term, TeraWatt plans to build seven heavy-duty charging centers between Long Beach and El Paso, Texas. Construction of the company’s charging stations will be staggered, Peter Cohen, senior director of business development, told Transport Topics in September.
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In August, the company broke ground on a light-duty charging site in Inglewood, Calif. This facility, near Los Angeles International Airport, is set to begin operations in early 2024 and offer 26 fast chargers.
California is at the forefront of the development of public heavy-duty electric truck charging facilities, although there are worries construction is not happening fast enough to meet the state’s nation-leading targets for trucking.
“Our partners in the private sector are playing a key role in building the infrastructure that is needed to power California’s zero-emission future,” said California Air Resources Board Chair Liane Randolph. “TeraWatt’s upcoming facility in Rancho Dominguez is one example of how the industry is stepping up to build sustainability into the operations of one of the nation’s busiest ports while delivering the clean air that Californians need and deserve.”
