Very fast charging on highways will be needed to provide flexibility and autonomy for regional and long-haul electric trucks and TeraWatt, a start up company has announced plans to rollout electric charging stations throughout the US.
Key points
San Francisco startup TeraWatt Infrastructure announced it’s developing the first network of electric vehicle-charging centers for heavy-duty and medium-duty trucks along the Interstate 10 highway.
The charging facilities will be located about 150 miles ( 240 km) apart and less than one mile ( 1.6kms ) from the nearest highway exits across California, Arizona, and New Mexico.
The announcement comes after the Biden administration this year rolled out a plan to allocate $5 billion to states to fund EV chargers along interstate highways as part of the bipartisan infrastructure package.
San Francisco startup TeraWatt Infrastructure on Thursday announced it’s developing the first network of electric vehicle-charging centers for heavy-duty and medium-duty trucks along the Interstate 10 highway, stretching from Long Beach, California, to the El Paso, Texas, area.
The company, which raised more than $1 billion this year to build charging infrastructure, said the facilities will be located about 150 miles ( 240kms ) apart and less than one mile from the nearest highway exits across California, Arizona, and New Mexico.
Medium and heavy trucks make up only about 4% of vehicles in the U.S., but because of their larger size and greater travel distances the vehicles consume more than 25% of total highway fuel and represent nearly 30% of highway carbon emissions, according to the Department of Energy.
“While there is a limited number of electric long-haul trucks on the road today, these vehicles are coming sooner than we think and we need the charging infrastructure to be ready,” said TeraWatt CEO Neha Palmer
TeraWatt’s charging centers will feature dozens of direct current fast chargers, pull-through charging stalls, and on-site driver amenities for long-haul and local electric-trucking operations, the company said. The first sites are set to come online in 2023.
The announcement comes after the Biden administration this year rolled out a plan to allocate $5 billion to states to fund EV chargers along interstate highways as part of the bipartisan infrastructure package.
In September, the Department of Transportation approved EV-charging station plans for all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico covering about 75,000 miles of highways. States also have access to more than $1.5 billion to help construct the chargers.
The Biden administration has set a target for EVs to make up half of all new vehicle sales by 2030 and has pledged to replace its federal fleet with electric power by 2035.
Given that Australia relies on a significant amount of road transport to deliver goods throughout this large country of ours, one can only hope the Australian federal government can implement the appropriate policies and targets that would guarantee we have the right infrastructure developed and deployed, to ensure a smooth transition.
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