After a few years of slow decline, megawatt charging for electric commercial trucks is starting to arrive in a big way.
WattEV announced this week the opening of a solar-powered charging station for medium- and heavy-duty commercial trucks in Bakersfield, California. Announced in 2021, this station is the fourth station opened by WattEV, following three other locations in California located near major trucking hubs and routes.
The Bakersfield station has three 1,200-kilowatt Megawatt Standard Chargers (MCS) connected to its solar array, WattEV said in a press release. This could cut the 300-mile charging time to just 30 minutes, WattEV claims. The 119-acre site also has 16 grid-connected 360-kW dual chargers, as well as 15 240-kW single-wire Combined Charging Standard (CCS) chargers.
ChargePoint EV charger with MW connector and cable
This week ChargePoint also announced support for MCS. A compatible cable and connector will be available in the company’s Power Link 2000 stations, providing up to 1.2 mW, according to a ChargePoint press release. The company noted that the MCS system is also designed for two-way shipping, with a capacity of up to 3 megawatts, in addition to sea and air shipping applications.
These announcements indicate that the development of megawatt charging infrastructure is finally beginning to accelerate. The first semi-electric megawatt charging station opened in 2021, in Portland, Oregon, while megawatt charging was formalized as standard in 2022.
Al Jazeera Electric – Daimler Trucks North America and PGE – Portland OR
This may be just the beginning. A utility-based project helping to plan and locate these high-power plants broke ground in 2020, helping pave the way for a network along the West Coast’s I-5 corridor. Truck maker Daimler also plans a $650 million charging and hydrogen network for big rigs.
With refueling times for hydrogen fuel cell semi-trucks estimated at 20 minutes or more, megawatt charging creates closer competition between fuel cell and battery-powered semi-trucks in an effort to decarbonize commercial vehicles — along with the reason to question whether time The right fit for hydrogen The fuel cell semi-finals have already come and gone.
