The electrification of the heavy truck segment is progressing more slowly than other segments. For passenger vehicles, the decision to purchase an electric vehicle (EV) is as simple as waiting until it is time to buy a new car and choosing an option that satisfies personal needs and expectations. Challenges such as limited range and charger availability are rarely an issue for general use such as on commutes. The additional cost of purchasing an EV over an internal combustion engine vehicle can also be significantly offset via government measures like tax incentives.
Fleet operators face a different set of challenges. Long-haul freight is significantly more sensitive to both range restrictions and charging times. Outside of freight corridors, the infrastructure for heavy-duty charging is sparse. Most pressing of all is the cost: a battery-electric truck can often cost more than double its diesel equivalent. Smaller fleets, for which the purchase of a new truck is a substantial investment, are the most acutely affected by this.
As the trucking sector faces growing pressure to decarbonise, smaller fleets are the ones most likely to struggle to meet government targets. Heavy-duty EV charging firm WattEV believes its new pay-per-use trucks-as-a-service (TaaS) model could prove a game-changer. The approach can enable smaller fleets to embrace electrification at a price comparable to that of running a diesel truck. It is also using this model as a means of pushing the industry towards better technologies such as the Megawatt Charging Standard (MCS) and creating economies of scale that will make the e-truck segment more accessible overall.
Electrification as a service
“Fundamentally, the idea is to give operators a solution that meets them where they are right now,” remarks Salim Youssefzadeh, Chief Executive of WattEV. “Smaller fleets make up by far the biggest portion of the carrier space, and yet they can’t afford a brand new, expensive truck, or build out their own infrastructure.” According to data from the US Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, 97% of fleets run fewer than 20 trucks. A further 92% operate six or less, and are family-owned. A 2023 report by Alphabet found that 45% of fleet managers operating small to medium-sized fleets are struggling to make the switch to e-trucks.
WattEV’s fleet of rentable e-trucks spans 36 trucks across different brands, all using the combined charging system (CCS) standard. “We’re OEM-agnostic,” Youssefzadeh tells Automotive World. This allows fleets to choose from a range of trucks best suited to their particular needs, at a range of different price points. The specific trucks available through the rental programme result from a process of testing via the company’s network. Youssefzadeh emphasises the importance of WattEV’s relationships with fleet operators in both determining the range of available options, and validating the real-world demand for such a programme.
Over the last 12 months, the TaaS programme has enabled fleet operators to run one million miles of road freight using e-trucks. The majority of these miles were run by smaller operators that could not otherwise afford to purchase the vehicles for themselves or were otherwise unsure as to the technology’s suitability for their particular needs. “A lot of the larger carriers will just buy their trucks,” says Youssefzadeh. They already have the capacity to test them internally for their suitability and do not need to outsource anything to a third-party entity.
He further emphasises that the trucks-as-a-service model extends beyond access to an e-truck itself: it is an all-inclusive package that ranges from damage cover to service and maintenance, as well as charging at WattEV’s charging network at a fixed price per month. This is intended to create an operating cost for e-truck use that is “comparable” to that of a diesel truck’s total cost of ownership. At the time of writing, WattEV’s charging network is concentrated around the southern California area, including the port at Long Beach. “In this region, we have more sites online than anybody else in the sector,” he remarks.
Facilitating megawatt charging
All of the e-trucks WattEV offers for rental have one thing in common: they are class 8 heavy-duty tractor-trailers. These trucks can weigh as much as 80,000 lbs and are intended to carry substantial loads along interstates and highways. 97% of Class 8 tractors in use today run on diesel. However, WattEV’s success to date with its rental programme is pushing it to expand its e-truck fleet. By the end of 2024, it will increase the size of its total fleet to over 180 trucks. This will begin with a delivery of 53 Volvo VNR Electric trucks, before expanding by roughly an additional 100 from a range of different automakers.
Youssefzadeh notes that, while the TaaS programme represents a substantial leap forward for the enablement of zero-emission heavy-duty transportation, the technology still faces substantial limitations. The company’s testing reveals that electrification remains feasible largely only for intrastate or middle-mile logistics. Truly long-haul applications—such as from New York to California—remain out of reach. This is for two reasons: a lack of available charging infrastructure, and an inability to charge at sufficiently fast speeds.
To tackle the first of these issues, WattEV is planning to expand its network of public commercial heavy-duty charging stations from the six currently in operation. “The 15 we have in development will cover the entire west coast, spanning all the way from San Diego to Seattle,” Youssefzadeh states. “Anybody who has an electric truck, whether they are part of our programme or not, can come and utilise those sites if they want to.” By 2035, the company aims to have over 100 sites in operation across the US.
We see a lot of the major manufacturers committing to having MCS available in their vehicles in 2026
At these sites, WattEV has deployed chargers using both CCS and MCS—even though few commercially-available e-trucks currently uses the latter. Youssefzadeh acknowledges the universal reliance on CCS as a limitation in his company’s existing fleet. CCS charges at a maximum speed of around 350 kW/H, meaning that the average e-truck can take around two or three hours to hit a 100% state of charge. This naturally leads to an increase in downtime, rendering existing e-trucks incompatible with certain long-haul applications. In contrast, MCS can reduce charging times for a heavy-duty vehicle to around 30 minutes
“We are serious about helping to standardise MCS. If you want to move long-haul freight with e-trucks, then it is going to be crucial,” Youssefzadeh drives home. Because WattEV’s TaaS model vertically integrates it across both charging infrastructure and fleets, he believes it is in a strong position to help remove barriers around downtime from the electrification of heavy-duty.
WattEV has stated it is prepared to order “thousands” of MCS-compatible trucks for use in its TaaS fleets and is targeting a total of 12,000 e-trucks overall by 2030. “We see a lot of the major manufacturers committing to having MCS available in their vehicles in 2026,” he concludes. “We’re ready to place that massive order to bring these vehicles to fleets at an economy of scale that makes them affordable for all fleets.”
