---
title: "Penske Opens Fast-Charging Stations for Electric Commercial Trucks in California"
description: "The company believes these are the first of its kind in America, and they're just getting started."
date: "2019-04-25"
modified: "2019-04-25"
authors:
  - name: "Stephen Edelstein"
    job_title: "Weekend Editor"
    link: "https://www.thedrive.com/authors/stephen-edelstein"
url: "https://www.thedrive.com/tech/27659/penske-opens-fast-charging-stations-for-electric-commercial-trucks-in-california"
categories:
  - "Car Tech"
  - "Electric Vehicles"
  - "News"
  - "Trucks"
tags:
  - "Commercial Trucks"
  - "Electric Trucks"
  - "Electric Vehicle"
  - "Fast Charging"
  - "Penske"
  - "Tech"
---

# Penske Opens Fast-Charging Stations for Electric Commercial Trucks in California

![](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/images-by-url-td/content/2018/12/18C0514_02-e1545416582145.jpg>)
*\<em\>www.thedrive.com\</em\>*

Electric cars aren't the only electric vehicles that need faster charging. Penske Truck Leasing, an arm of the vast Penske motorsports and business empire, has installed 14 DC fast-charging stations for electric commercial trucks at four of its facilities in Southern California. The company believes these are the first operational fast-charging stations in the United States designed specifically for commercial trucks.

DC fast-charging stations connect directly to a vehicle's battery pack, which is what makes them faster than Level 2 AC stations. While grid electricity is AC, the batteries use DC current. The need to convert from AC to DC makes Level 2 AC stations inherently slower than their DC fast-charging counterparts. DC fast-charging stations [for electric passenger cars](<https://www.thedrive.com/news/25105/new-york-to-install-hundreds-of-ev-fast-charging-stations-state-wide>), such as [Tesla's Supercharger stations](<https://www.thedrive.com/news/26824/tesla-supercharger-v3-everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-new-ultra-fast-ev-charger>), are becoming more common, although they still lag behind Level 2 AC stations.

Penske installed its first commercial-truck fast-charging stations in San Diego, Chino, Anaheim, and La Mirada, California. Each station can charge at a rate of 50 kilowatts to 150 kW, according to Penske. The company didn't quote a specific charging time, but said stations could recharge a Class 8 tractor in less than half a shift. Penske plans to add at least six more stations in the near future.

The fast-charging stations will support Penske's small fleet of electric trucks. The company [recently took delivery](<https://www.thedrive.com/news/25626/daimler-delivers-first-freightliner-em2-commercial-electric-truck-to-penske>) of 10 Freightliner eCascadia Class 8 tractors, 10 Freightliner eM2 medium-duty box trucks, and will soon get a batch of smaller [Fuso eCanter](<https://www.thedrive.com/tech/26967/fleet-of-fuso-ecanter-electric-delivery-trucks-finally-hit-the-road-with-penske>) delivery trucks. All three models are manufactured by Mercedes-Benz parent Daimler's commercial-truck division. Many other companies have [discussed building electric trucks](<https://www.thedrive.com/tech/23906/volvo-wants-to-sell-electric-trucks-in-north-america-by-2020>), but Daimler is actually putting them in customer's hands, albeit on a small scale.

## Author
Stephen has always been passionate about cars, and managed to turn that passion into a career as a freelance automotive journalist. When he's not handling weekend coverage for The Drive, you can find him looking for a new book to read.

### Author social links  
[Twitter](<https://twitter.com/SAEdelstein>)