Tesla has had a very good month, at least when it comes to its EV charging standard. Washington state wants to require electric car charging companies to use Tesla’s North American Charging Standard (NACS) to be part of the state’s program to support electric vehicles. Reuters. The state’s proposed mandate would put Tesla’s technology on state and federally funded charging stations in the future, though Washington hasn’t yet decided exactly what that will look like.
Right now, the federal government requires at least four Combined Charging System (CCS) chargers at taxpayer-funded charging stations, Tonia Buell, alternative fuels program manager at the Washington State Department of Transportation (DOT), told Reuters the state may require that at least two, or perhaps all four chargers also support NACS. CCS is currently the preferred standard for cross-platform use by the federal government.
It’s been a good week for Tesla’s NACS standard – Texas made a similar announcement on Tuesday, and said it would also begin requiring electric vehicle charging companies to use the standard to receive federal dollars. The state’s DOT told it Reuters via email that “the decision by Ford, GM and now Rivian to adopt NACS changed the Phase 1 requirements” of Texas’ rollout of a federally funded electrification program.
Also on Tuesday, electric car maker and Tesla competitor Rivian announced its intention to use NACS for its future vehicles, which would allow those cars to access the already robust network of Tesla Supercharger stations across the country. Hyundai is also considering the standard, though it said it depends on customer interest, as Tesla’s chargers don’t charge at the higher rate supported by its own EV platform. Electric charging company BTC Power, which also supplies DC and AC car chargers to convenience stores and fleet management announced its intention to support NACS.
With Ford and General Motors also announcing support for Tesla’s standard, NACS now has huge advantages over CCS in the fight to become the de facto standard for electric vehicle charging in the US.
