diff --git a/cluster/gce/config-default.sh b/cluster/gce/config-default.sh
index f18d85db46c..1eaf673a270 100755
--- a/cluster/gce/config-default.sh
+++ b/cluster/gce/config-default.sh
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@ MASTER_DISK_TYPE=pd-ssd
 MASTER_DISK_SIZE=${MASTER_DISK_SIZE:-20GB}
 NODE_DISK_TYPE=${NODE_DISK_TYPE:-pd-standard}
 NODE_DISK_SIZE=${NODE_DISK_SIZE:-100GB}
+NODE_LOCAL_SSDS=${NODE_LOCAL_SSDS:-0}
 REGISTER_MASTER_KUBELET=${REGISTER_MASTER:-true}
 PREEMPTIBLE_NODE=${PREEMPTIBLE_NODE:-false}
 PREEMPTIBLE_MASTER=${PREEMPTIBLE_MASTER:-false}
diff --git a/cluster/gce/config-test.sh b/cluster/gce/config-test.sh
index bcfdccb9c8f..581dee383bf 100755
--- a/cluster/gce/config-test.sh
+++ b/cluster/gce/config-test.sh
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@ MASTER_DISK_TYPE=pd-ssd
 MASTER_DISK_SIZE=${MASTER_DISK_SIZE:-20GB}
 NODE_DISK_TYPE=${NODE_DISK_TYPE:-pd-standard}
 NODE_DISK_SIZE=${NODE_DISK_SIZE:-100GB}
+NODE_LOCAL_SSDS=${NODE_LOCAL_SSDS:-0}
 REGISTER_MASTER_KUBELET=${REGISTER_MASTER:-true}
 KUBE_APISERVER_REQUEST_TIMEOUT=300
 PREEMPTIBLE_NODE=${PREEMPTIBLE_NODE:-false}
diff --git a/cluster/gce/util.sh b/cluster/gce/util.sh
index d90ebc432a8..39b9e5bc76f 100755
--- a/cluster/gce/util.sh
+++ b/cluster/gce/util.sh
@@ -480,6 +480,12 @@ function create-node-template() {
   if [[ "${PREEMPTIBLE_NODE}" == "true" ]]; then
     preemptible_minions="--preemptible --maintenance-policy TERMINATE"
   fi
+  local local_ssds=""
+  if [ ! -z ${NODE_LOCAL_SSDS+x} ]; then
+      for i in $(seq ${NODE_LOCAL_SSDS}); do
+          local_ssds="$local_ssds--local-ssd=interface=SCSI "
+      done
+  fi
   while true; do
     echo "Attempt ${attempt} to create ${1}" >&2
     if ! gcloud compute instance-templates create "$template_name" \
@@ -491,6 +497,7 @@ function create-node-template() {
       --image "${NODE_IMAGE}" \
       --tags "${NODE_TAG}" \
       --network "${NETWORK}" \
+      ${local_ssds} \
       ${preemptible_minions} \
       $2 \
       --can-ip-forward \