The future of electric vehicle charging depends on the Supercharger network division at Tesla. Unfortunately That entire department was fired IN sweeping layoff from company CEO Elon Musk last week. The world of electric vehicles may have been turned upside down forever in 2023 when Musk’s coup aimed to turn the tables once-exclusive Tesla charging plug into the soon-to-be-popular North American Charging Standard (NACS) plug, adopted by Ford, Rivian, Stellantis, General Motors, Volkswagen, Hyundai/Kia; Basically everyone. None of those companies sell cars with NACS plugs yet, so let’s to charge them on the Tesla Supercharger you need a converter dongle. The Atlantic just published an in-depth study into the mess this whole situation has become, and you should definitely read it.
From Atlantic:
However, like anything with Tesla, it’s not nearly as simple as that. NACS adoption has gone from being a success story for electric cars to becoming a problem in the future of electric vehicles. Last week, Musk fired Tesla Supercharger team of 500 peoplea puzzling move, inexplicable upon review What central charging has become for the company. On his X social platform, Musk posted that Tesla will develop the Supercharger network “at a slower pace.” Ford and Rivian are said to be currently in the dark, having lost key contacts at the company.
I remember when Apple moved everything to its proprietary Lightning charging port and removed the 3.5mm headphone jack from its phones. My car has an aux port but not bluetooth so I can no longer use my new phone to play music. I had to buy a bunch of crap headphone dongles to convert the signal. It’s an additional expense, something I have to carry, and an added level of discomfort. For me, this is the current state of electric vehicle charging. Somehow, Tesla tricked everyone into abandoning a perfectly good solution in favor of its less-than-perfect NACS gateway, and now everyone who bought an EV with CCS is being left behind, like People who bought an EV with a CHAdeMO port in the past 5 years. The whole thing just stinks.
I’ve driven electric vehicles across the country a few times, and while it’s not particularly difficult anymore, it’s still pretty annoying. The process requires half a dozen apps to search, map, pay, and initiate charging sessions. This is where Tesla’s integration with the company’s own cars has delivered a superior charging experience. Until recently, Tesla chargers only needed to communicate with Tesla, meaning it was just plug and play. You don’t have to swipe a card or process an app or restart a session because the “handshake” doesn’t feel right or anything.
More from The Atlantic:
The ready deployment of these adapters is an initial test of how much Tesla is willing to continue investing in battery charging. At worst, the layoffs suggest that now that Tesla has won the charging plug war, Musk is abandoning the mission for he sought to pivot the company around AI. Sam Abuelsamid, principal e-mobility research analyst at Guidehouse Insights, told me: “Currently cutting Supercharger’s staff means Tesla will have no one left to develop software updates and ensure ensuring interoperability with non-Tesla vehicles.” “Over time, it can reduce the reliability of existing chargers and adapters.”
Overall, this transition has become a lose-lose situation, and over the next few years, the installation of NACS chargers while manufacturers continue to produce electric vehicles with CCS charging ports will grow into a craze. dongle nightmare. If you must use an adapter, please avoid the siren call of a cheap adapter from Alibaba or Temu or whatever, because you are running a high amount of voltage through something that can not properly designed to handle it. You don’t want to stall or burn out your car just because you bought a cheap converter.
