It looks like third-party charging companies are also jumping about the NACS train that continues to pick up steam.
Over the last year, a ton of EV automakers have announced that they will be switching their charging connector from CCS to NACS, the North American Charging Standard that was developed and eventually made available to everyone by Tesla. It feels like each month, another major EV brand announces that they will be using the charging connector in their future EV models.
All of those companies — in addition to announcing support for NACS — have also announced deals with Tesla to use the company’s Supercharger network. All of those changes — between adopting the NACS charger and gaining access to Tesla’s charging network — are set to kick in starting in 2025.
But what about all of the other charging networks that exist in North America? Well, they are also making the switch to NACS. In a press release, EV charging company ChargePoint has announced that they are starting to roll out NACS chargers to their stations starting this year. The company says that most of its existing chargers will be updated with NACS connectors “over the coming month” and that “cable conversion kits for existing DC fast chargers will be delivered to customers in November.”
Pasquale Romano, CEO of ChargePoint, revealed in a statement that the company has already seen Tesla owners charge their vehicles at its stations over 35 million times — even though they have had to do so through the use of a CCS to NACS adapter.
“With more than 35 million historical ChargePoint sessions initiated by Tesla vehicles, we saw the need to offer native connector solutions for this large portion of the EV market. Our support for both installed and new products opens up ChargePoint’s DC chargers to millions of drivers who have not yet had a fast charging alternative to the Tesla ecosystem, and makes their AC charging experience more convenient.”
The company says that, once it rolls out NACS across its charging stations, it will offer “every necessary cable solution to charge an EV in North America and Europe.”
The news comes a day after BMW announced that it was making the switch to NACS across its cars as well as models from Mini and Rolls-Royce, which BMW owns. Like everyone else, the company says that the first EVs with NACS will be on vehicles manufactured in 2025. In the last few months, Mercedes, Rivian, GM, Polestar, Volvo, Nissan, Fisker, and Jaguar have all announced similar deals with Tesla.
It’s great to see third-party charging companies like ChargePoint getting ahead of the game and adding support for NACS right away. This will no doubt make Tesla owners happy today and also quell some level of range anxiety for those thinking about buying an EV and wanting to ensure the chargers around them have the connector they want.
