Texas officials on Tuesday said EV charging sites that want to tap the state’s funds must include Tesla connectors along with the so far defaulted Combined Charging Standard (CCS) connector.
The decision was made in response to the announcements by Ford, General Motors and Rivian about the use of the Tesla connector, which the automaker has named the North American Charging Standard (NACS), the Texas Department of Transportation. said in an email sent to Reuters.
Texas, home to Tesla’s headquarters and its second factory in the United States, became the first state to mandate Tesla connectors for state-funded chargers. Countries that have control over 5 billion dollars of the $7.5 billion in funding set aside in the Biden administration’s infrastructure law to create a national network of 500,000 EV chargers. State funding will be spread over five years, and spending plans must be approved by the federal government.
GM EVs Get Tesla Supercharger Access By 2024
The Fed said earlier this year that Tesla would have to open its network to other electric vehicles to qualify for partial funding under the infrastructure law. The White House earlier this month said it would subsidize charging stations that use Tesla connectors, as long as they including CCS . connectors. That statement does not clarify whether the CCS adapter is sufficient to demonstrate interoperability.
Ford announced last month that it will via Tesla charging port for electric vehicles in the future. Starting in 2025, next-generation EVs will have an interface built in, allowing them to charge at Tesla Supercharger stations without an adapter, and Ford will gradually phase out the CCS port on new vehicles. Existing Ford EVs will be given Supercharger access with the converter expected to be available next year.
Ford Mustang Mach-E and Tesla Supercharger
GM made a similar announcement a few weeks later, promising Supercharger access in 2024 for existing customers with a Tesla adapter and charging port integration on new electric vehicles starting in 2025. GM also said it has no plans to build vehicles with both CCS and Tesla connectors, indicating CCS will be removed at some point.
Rivian on Tuesday announced the plan via Tesla charging port same, but with less details about the rollout. Hyundai and Stellantis are also considering jumping into the NACS team.
While the automaker’s announcements were accompanied by a flurry of statements from charging hardware manufacturers suggesting Tesla’s plans to add compatibility, CCS connectors are currently in the works. available at more locations than Tesla connectors, according to Department of Energy data. In Texas at least, that could soon change.
