Dominoes keep falling toward Tesla’s North American Charging Standard (NACS) EV charging connector. First was Ford, then GM, and now start-up EV maker Rivian has joined the list of car companies adopting the connector and getting access to the Tesla Supercharger network.
The company signed an agreement with Tesla to get greater access to the Supercharger network, which will be the first part of the changeover starting in spring next year. At that point, adapters will be available to Rivian owners that will allow them to use any chargers on the network, rather than some specially updated chargers for CCS cars in general.
As for the NACS connector, Rivian will begin using it on new R1T and R1S vehicles instead of CCS in 2025. NACS will continue to be used on Rivians into the future, including the upcoming R2 models.
In regards to the agreement, Rivian’s CEO, R.J. Scaringe said: “We’re excited to work with Tesla and to see collaborations like this help advance the world toward carbon neutrality. The adoption of the North American Charging Standard will enable our existing and future customers to leverage Tesla’s expansive Supercharger network while we continue to build out our Rivian Adventure Network. We look forward to continuing to find new ways to accelerate EV adoption.”
Rivian has a variety of charging stations across the U.S. that are exclusive for Rivian owners. Presumably, new ones will need to switch over to NACS. It will be interesting to see if Rivian decides to keep them exclusive, or open them up in order to receive some government subsidies.
As previously mentioned, both Ford and GM have also had similar announcements in adopting Tesla charging standards. In fact, the announcements have had nearly the exact same timelines: adapters and access next year, followed by NACS connectors as standard equipment in 2025. It seems these American automakers won’t be the last to follow suit, either. Apparently Hyundai is open to using the standard in the U.S., though it wants to find a way to enable faster overall charging for its higher-voltage, which is something other automakers with 800-volt architectures (such as Porsche, for example) would be interested in.
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