We’re officially in NACS adapter season. Earlier this year, we got our first word about adapters rolling out for Ford EV owners and now we have our first indication that Rivian could be following quickly behind. If you have an EV with that dreaded CCS connector, you might finally be getting access to the best charging network in North America.
Yesterday, Rivian released version 2.6.0 of its iOS and Android app, which included widget support and the ability to check things like tire pressure:
- Now you can add a widget to your phone’s home screen so you can check vehicle status and get access to quick controls without opening the app
- We’ve also added a Vehicle Health section to the app, so you can check on details like tire pressure
While the company did not mention anything else in its release notes, internet sleuths dug into the code of the latest version and found mention of an NACS (North American Charging Standard) adapter to be used with the R1T and R1S. They even found an animation of Tesla’s charging cable connecting with the adapter and the Rivian’s CCS charging port.
We knew an adapter was coming
It appears to be the same adapter that Ford recently announced it would be providing to eligible Mustang Mach-E and F-150 Lightning owners for free. While Ford only said that it would be providing more details about the free adapter “soon,” it did say that customers in the United States and Canada would be eligible.
It’s not surprising to see the adapter start to show up in Rivian’s app — even if the company hasn’t formally said anything about its exact availability to customers just yet. When Rivian announced it would be adopting Tesla’s NACS connector back in 2023, it confirmed that it would be providing an adapter to those who owned a vehicle with a CCS connector.
In addition to adopting NACS in its future vehicles starting in 2025, the company said at that time that all of its models will get access to 12,000 Tesla Superchargers this year — another indication that an adapter is going to be released soon. The presence of it in the app means we it could happen sooner than later in 2024.
Rivian could announce the adapter at its R2 event
I wonder if Rivian will announce the launch of the adapter for its CCS vehicles at its upcoming R2 event. The company is set to kick off the event on March 7th where it will officially unveil its next-generation R2 vehicle which is set to go into production at the company’s plant in Georgia. That vehicle will surely come equipped with a NACS connector, so I’m wondering if the company will confirm the release of its adapter for its current customers as a footnote during that part of the keynote.
While we haven’t seen the R2 yet, there are some things we’ve started to learn about the upcoming EV. Per previous reports, the Rivian R2 is expected to launch in 2026 at a starting price of $40,000. In a recent interview with Mad Money’s Jim Cramer, Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe also confirmed that the vehicle is expected to qualify for the full $7,500 federal EV tax credit.
A recent patent application showed off a vehicle that appears slightly different and smaller than the R1S electric SUV that we know. Specifically, the vehicle depicted in the image below features different headlamps and a more compact design than the current 3-row SUV. Rivian did confirm in its first environmental impact report that the R2 will be a lower-priced midsize vehicle, coming in smaller and more affordable than the R1T and R1S.
We’re only weeks away from the event, so there’s a lot more where that adapter came from!
