Tesla on Friday urged charging network operators and other vehicle manufacturers to use its connectivity standard, now known as the North American Charging Standard (NACS).
The company may have committed to the CCS standard for Europe, but as the industry converges around the CCS standard in the United States, the timing of the new NACS push makes one thing clear: Don’t look for the CCS portal in US Tesla vehicles anytime soon, and we’ll have two competing EV fast charging standards in the near future.
Tesla argues that of all the charging connectors in North America, the NACS is the most proven, and it outperforms the two-to-one CCS. Furthermore, there are 60% more NACS connectors than CCS connectors in the US, it claims.
To parse this another way, according to the US Alternative Fuels Data Center, which breaks down US fast charging by type, Tesla now has more ports than CCS or CHAdeMO combined. Although by location, the trip-oriented Supercharger network is still only a third as far.
DC Fast Charging: Tesla NACS vs CCS vs CHAdeMO (AFDC US, November 2022)
Tesla also notes that it takes up half the size of the CCS – a key design and packaging element for electric vehicles.
It’s also the only one designed to provide AC and DC charging in the same package — now up to 1 MW on the latter.
Tesla has released an update specifications released to the standard this past week, and it says that it is “actively working with the relevant standards bodies to encode Tesla’s charging connector as a public standard.”
“As an unbelievable all-electrical and mechanical interface to the use case and communication protocol, NACS is easy to adopt,” Tesla said, noting that the Design and specification files for the NACS are available for download.
That update notes an initial publication of the standard in August, including new details for the standard’s 1,000-volt configuration.
Tesla also notes that it “successfully operated the North American Charging Standard above 900A continuously with a non-liquid-cooled vehicle input.” This number is higher than what is allowed by CCS without water cooling and an important distinction as it can mean lower complexity for charging station operators.
Tesla Supercharger Connector – now known as NACS
Tesla Supercharger Connector – now known as NACS
It says that network operators “have plans to incorporate NACS into their chargers, so Tesla owners can expect to be charged at other networks without the need for adapters”.
The Tesla standard was offered in the Model S starting in 2012 and predates the CCS, not in any production EVs until late 2013 — in Chevy Spark EV—and for the first few years limited to a handful of niche EVs not intended for general sale. The BMW i32014 is the first model to meet the standard for mass sales.
At that time, the CHAdeMO standard for fast charging had been out for almost three years, and it was being used in the on-road fast chargers of the Nissan Leaf and Mitsubishi i-MiEV by people willing to use those devices. vehicle model’ Range is limited. Nissan is the last automaker currently offering a vehicle for the U.S. market—the Leaf—with the CHAdeMO fast charging port. But with switch to CCS in the upcoming Ariya it’s a legacy standard.
“Network operators already have plans to incorporate NACS into their chargers, so Tesla owners can expect to charge in other networks without an adapter,” the company notes.
Charge Tesla on EVgo . network
Tesla and CEO Elon Musk have been teasing the idea of opening up the standard for years. To date, no other automaker has publicly signed off on the Tesla standard — with the exception of Aptera and its upcoming tricycle solar EV — and the EVgo charging network remains the only one to target. arrive to add more Tesla chargers.
The timing of Tesla’s announcement may also have a lot to do with the formation of a $7.4 billion federal EV charging network requires stations to use non-proprietary charging systems. In opening up its system and giving it a less proprietary-sounding name, Tesla may be doing what it takes to be included in future rounds.
Tesla Supercharger V3 Station, Las Vegas
With a layer of skepticism applied, it could also have a lot to do with Tesla’s stock value, which was at a nearly two-year low on Wednesday due in part to Elon Musk’s Twitter woes. Last November, Tesla stock had one of its biggest spikes ever after just a combination of Buy 100,000 cars from Hertz and even more, the Open Supercharger network for non-Tesla vehicles in Europe.
Regardless of the timing, it is clear that the battle between electric vehicle charging standards is certainly not over.
