After this one, how many automakers are left?
Today, Polestar announced that it will join the growing list of EV automakers and adopt Tesla’s charging connector and port. In a press release, the company said that it will start using Tesla’s North American Charging Standard (NACS) charging connector in its future electric vehicles starting in 2025, similar to a number of other companies adopting the standard that year.
In addition to adopting Tesla’s charging connector, the company will also gain access to Tesla’s Supercharger network starting “early” next year, according to a tweet from the Tesla Charging account. Polestar says that its customers will be able to use the network in both the United States and Canada. Customers that have a car with a CCS will still be able to use Tesla’s Superchargers with an adapter that will also be available early next year.
Thomas Ingenlath, CEO of Polestar, said in a statement that the North American Charging Standard will “greatly increase the rate of EV adoption in a key automotive region.”
“This is a great win for our North American customers! We salute the pioneering work Tesla has done to speed up the adoption and increase the popularity of electric vehicles, and it’s great to see the Supercharger network being made available in this way. With 12,000 charging points today, a number that will only keep growing, this move will greatly increase the rate of EV adoption in a key automotive region.”
Polestar is the latest automaker to announce the adoption of NACS. In the last month alone, Volvo, Rivian, and GM also announced deals with Tesla to adopt the NACS charging connector and gain access to Tesla’s Supercharger network.
At this point, the future of CCS is truly in doubt, at least in the United States and Canada. There are only a handful of automakers remaining that have not committed to using NACS. Even Ford and GM, the two major players in the United States, have also announced that they will switch to NACS for their future EVs. Sticking with CCS is really looking like a losing game now.
