Electric truck charging station opens in Bakersfield
BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) — A new charging station opened in Bakersfield just north of Meadows Field Airport, but it’s not for cars.
Silently making its way to the charging station, these new electric trucks are making work easier for drivers.
“Maintenance wise, you get in a truck and you do a pre-check,” said Sergio Nava, a truck driver for the past 13 years. “You check your oil, check fluids, and a lot of stuff just to get on the road. And with these trucks a lot of that is eliminated.”
Since switching to electric, the only thing he’s had to check in his truck is the coolant.
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Having a new charging station in Bakersfield not only benefits the drivers, but the environment.
“Bakersfield, and San Joaquin Valley, has the worst air pollution in California, so, the need is there,” said Salim Youssefzadeh, CEO of Watt EV.
“The customer base is here, we got local distribution centers just miles away from this facility, as well as we’re already working with the local farming companies that are adopting zero emission trucks to come and utilize our facility.”
The just opened station has the Megawatt Charging System known as MCS. It cuts charging from a couple of hours down to about 30 minutes. Chargers are fed through solar panels and PG&E.
“That allows us to charge effectively very low cost during the daylight hours, because we’re getting free energy,” Youssefzadeh said. “Outside of the daylight hours we can use the utilities as more of a backup, as well as for additional need.”
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A future that once looked like just a dream.
“You see this in movies, you see this, like, oh electric trucks, self-driving trucks, flying trucks,” trucker Sergio Nava said. “When I came across Watt EV, and they were telling me about this, I was like ‘No, this isn’t for me,’ and they were like ‘Come over and try it’ so I tried it and I see the benefits.”
It’s another step closer for electric car adoption.
“As long as we’re building the infrastructure, the technology with the batteries will come,” said Sergio Nava.
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