Electrify America and Electrify Canada are also jumping on the bandwagon, announcing on Thursday it plans to add Tesla’s North American Charging Standard (NACS) to its electric vehicle (EV) charging stations.
The charging network, owned by Volkswagen and born out of the Dieselgate scandal, said it will incorporate NACS connectors into its existing and future stations across Canada and the United States, but not until 2025. The company says it is making the shift to support the growing number of automakers who will be adding NACS ports to their EVs, but that it will continue to also support the Combined Charging System (CCS).
“Since our founding, we have focused on building an inclusive and open hyper-fast charging network to facilitate the adoption of electric vehicles. We look forward to continuing to support industry-wide standards that increase vehicle interoperability and streamline public charging,” said Robert Barrosa, president and CEO of Electrify America.
As of Thursday there are now five global automakers who have signed on the dotted line and agreed to adopt NACS. The first of those automakers was Ford, with General Motors, Rivian, Volvo, and Polestar following in quick succession.
The fast-charging network has more than 850 charging stations with about 4,000 individual chargers in Canada and the United States. Electrify America and Electrify Canada stations feature chargers at 150 kilowatts (kW) and 350kW. However as many EV owners have experienced, the network has recently proven to be very unreliable. It is not uncommon for these chargers to be out of order, or providing much lower than advertised charging speeds.
Even in the face of these issues, Electrify America raised its charging fees earlier this year, blaming the increase on “rising operational costs and energy costs.”
More EV charging companies throw their support behind Tesla’s NACS
