A small electric vehicle company plans to build the first 25-megawatt, solar-powered, electric-only public truck stop in the United States to serve electric truck transportation in California.

WattEV is building an electric truck stop at a busy freeway junction in Bakersfield, located at the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley in California. The 110-acre truck stop, located near logistics distribution centers managed by Amazon and Walmart, will feature a solar micro-grid with battery storage, as well as power from the PG&E grid.

Project partners include the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District, Greenlots, Power Electronics, the Central California Asthma Collaborative, Heavy Truck Manufacturers, PG&E and others. Initial production from the WattEV electric truck stop will include a capacity of 4 megawatts (MW), which will eventually reach 25 MW powering more than 40 charging bays.

WattEV has also developed a business model for the truck transport industry, labeled Trucks as a Service (TaaS), which paves the way for carriers to transition to the use of battery-powered electric trucks.

“We aim to enable the addition of 12,000 heavy-duty battery electric trucks to California roads by the end of 2030, exceeding existing forecasts,” Salim Youssefzadeh, CEO of WattEV, said in a press release. “If it works in California, it will work pretty much anywhere in the country.”

WattEV has already booked its first 50 Tesla seedlings and plans to place more orders with other OEMs.