Rivian announced today that it has reached an agreement with Tesla to allow their owners to use Tesla’s charging network. It will still continue to build its own charger, which it calls Rivian adventure networkbut now Rivian owners will also be able to use Tesla’s estimated 12,000 turbochargers.
Or at least they will last. Rivian said it hopes to have an adapter available “as early as spring 2024.” So, if you’ve seen this news and are excited about being able to speed up your R1S on an upcoming trip, you’re going to be a bit disappointed. Starting in 2025, Rivian says it will do Tesla’s North American Charging Standard standard ports on the R1T and R1S, as well as the smaller R2, which the company plans to add to the lineup.
That means Rivian will join more and more automakers, including Ford And common engine, plans to give their owners access to one of the only reliable steam charging networks in the country. Even Hyundai is said to be looking to make the same move. Ideally, no one would give any of their money to Elon Musk, but at the same time, other charging networks are so unreliable that it is conceivable that automakers would see value in allowing customers to their customers access the Supercharger network.
And it looks like current Rivian owners are also supportive of the move. A recent poll about Rivian owners forum shows that more than 3/4 members think that Rivian should switch to NACS charging port. Only 16.1 percent of the members who took part in the poll disagreed. So at least for now, it looks like Rivian made the right business decision.
It will also be interesting to see how Tesla owners react when more non-Tesla have access to their Turbochargers. Longer lines and waits seem inevitable, and it’s understandable that they’ll be frustrated when forced to wait for a non-Tesla vehicle to finish charging. Hopefully it doesn’t lead to any wars or sabotage attempts, though.
