By Umar Shakir , a news writer fond of the electric vehicle lifestyle and things that plug in via USB-C. He spent over 15 years in IT support before joining The Verge.
The state of electric vehicle charging in North America is way too much like smartphone charging wars — but focused on much more expensive hardware. Like USB-C, the Combined Charging System (CCS, Type 1) plug is widely adopted by almost every manufacturer and charging network, while, like Apple and Lightning, Tesla uses its own plug but with wider availability across its Supercharger network. Green Charging
But as Apple is forced away from Lightning, Tesla is on a different path where it’s opening up the connector, renaming it to North American Charging Standard (NACS), and pushing it to become the USB-C of electric vehicles in the region. And it might just work: Ford and GM lined up as the first two automakers to adopt the NACS port, which is also now being recognized by the automotive standards organization SAE International.
Europe solved this by forcing all companies to use CCS2 (Tesla included), while EV owners in the US, for years, have dealt with fragmented charging networks requiring different accounts, apps, and / or access cards. And depending on whether you’re driving a Tesla Model Y, a Kia EV6, or even a Nissan Leaf with the ailing CHAdeMO connector, you’d better hope the station you stop at has the cable you need — and is operational.
Meanwhile, the Biden administration is leaving out a nice pool of $7.5 billion to give every major fast-charging network from ChargePoint to Electrify America the chance to build reliable EV infrastructure.
North America can become a great and convenient place to own an electric vehicle, but how long will that take? Find out by reading all the news about electric vehicle charging right here, so come back and plug in often.
The company has announced that it’s building its first US-based charger production factory in Texas “in response to the growing demand for EV charging stations across North America.” LG also plans on rolling out 11kW and 175kW EV chargers, along with 350kW fast chargers in the US this year.
This report says that despite the billions in funding approved in 2021, only Ohio and New York have used them for new EV charging stations so far as states navigate environmental impact and CCS vs. NACS.
It also cites a survey finding that 80 percent of people said a lack of chargers is one of their reasons for not buying an EV, suggesting the slow rollout (we said patience would be required) could temper demand. And where chargers exist, some have found that due to unreliability, they’re not guaranteed to provide more than a shopping convenience.
Volkswagen Group, which also owns Audi, Porsche, and Scout Motors, is finally doing what nearly every other automaker has already done: announce its intention to adopt Tesla’s electric vehicle charging standard.
VW said it is “exploring adapter solutions” so that its current EV owners can access Tesla’s Supercharger network and expects to have something to roll out by 2025. That same year, you’ll start to see new VW electric vehicles rolling off the assembly line with Tesla’s charging port natively installed. All told, VW says the deal will give its customers access to 15,000 Supercharger locations in North America.
Skipping the gas station is one of the most freeing aspects of switching to an EV, but sometimes people miss it for the amenities — like using those squeegees to clean their windshields while refueling.
Well, say hi to this GM Ultium-branded gas-station-looking EV charging hub in Ohio, which looks like it’s part of the recently announced EVgo and Pilot partnership. It’s got the familiar canopy, accessories, and the pull-up-at-the-petrol-pump vibe.
Ford may be dialing back some of its larger EV investments, but it’s still operating under the assumption that a lot of businesses will be interested in electrifying their fleets eventually. The company is partnering with Xcel Energy to install 30,000 EV charging ports for fleet customers by 2030, at little to no cost to the businesses to the businesses themselves.
The project will be run out of Ford Pro, which is the automaker’s commercial vehicle and software division. The first EV charger installations will begin in the first quarter of 2024 in two states, Wisconsin and Colorado, and later will grow to include more states, said Amanda Rome, executive vice president and chief customer officer at Xcel Energy.
General Motors, along with its partners EVgo and Pilot Travel Centers, announced that the first new stations of its “coast-to-coast” EV charging network will open before the end of the year.
The companies announced the opening of 17 stations today. Before the end of the year, at least 25 stations will be open, with around 100 charging stalls in total. Some of the stalls will have DC fast-charging capacities of 350kW, which can deliver more than 200 miles of range in just 10 minutes.
The nationwide electric vehicle charging network company and the Midwest superstore chain have already installed 24 charging stalls in six locations across Michigan and Ohio.
Fresh off of National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) funding, EVgo will provide white-label chargers to Meijer and will also manage installation, ongoing operation, and maintenance. Ohio’s $13.8 million allocation of the funding is good for 20 new locations for EV chargers, of which EVgo will handle 14.
Premium “Certified Elite” dealership locations now only need to install three AC charging stations instead of five by June 30th, 2024 — a six-month delay. They won’t need to install a DC fast charger by 2026. And required EV training costs have also been reduced.
The automaker changed the rules after some of its Illinois dealerships argued that the demands for EV sales and its certification program violated state franchise laws.
Hertz and charging network EVgo are partnering to offer EV car renters one year of discounted charging rates with no monthly subscription or charge fees.
To take advantage, EV renters can sign up online or scan a QR code at Hertz locations and set up a new EVgo account from now until November 2024. Then you can go to one of EVgo’s 950-plus stations in the US — and hope you find one that works!
After experiencing fast-charging frustration in her Mustang Mach-E, WSJ’s Joanna Stern tried connecting DC chargers to a Rivian R1T at 30 LA-area stations from EVgo, Electrify America, and EVCS. More than 40 percent of the stations had a problem somewhere, with 27 percent of the 126 charging stalls offline.
A lot of money is being spent to improve charging electric cars in the US, but broken parts, handshake issues, and payment processing are still hurdles. Opening up access to Tesla’s Superchargers and switching over to NACS may help some in the future, but this is the present.
Mercedes-Benz cut the ribbon on its first EV fast-charging hub in the US, complete with a swanky waiting area and 400kW charging speeds courtesy of ChargePoint.
The hub is located at the automaker’s US-based headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia, meaning most of the early users are likely to be Mercedes employees. But the company says that owners of non-Mercedes EVs are welcome to use the chargers as well.
The automaker’s electric luxury sedan works with a new vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) adapter called RangeXchange that can charge other EVs at a rate of up to 9.6 kW — delivering 24 to 40 miles of range per hour of charge. Owners can enable the bi-directional charging feature through a new OTA software update.
Tesla’s North American Charging Standard (NACS) is on a roll. ChargePoint recently started rolling out its support for the standard, and Subaru hopped aboard the NACS train, following Toyota / Lexus, and others. Now, Lucid says it’s coming to the party by 2025 in North America.
That leaves precious few holdouts for the Combined Charging System. Pour one out for CCS, my friends. Only be careful. Electricity, and all.
Subaru is hopping on the Tesla charging port bandwagon. The automaker has announced that it will adopt the North American Charging Standard (NACS) for “certain” electric vehicles starting in 2025.
Subaru says it will also supply NACS charging adapters to customers who own or lease an EV with the Combined Charging System (CCS) standard in 2025. The company has been relatively slow to adopt EVs. It currently only offers the Solterra, and even that’s only as part of its partnership with Toyota; everything else is gas-powered. Subaru plans to add to its EV lineup, though, and it has three vehicles in the works that it’s supposed to reveal by 2026.
BP is buying $100 million of Supercharger hardware from Tesla, making it the first company to purchase DC fast-charging equipment from the automaker for use in a third-party charging network. The sale is going to the oil and gas conglomerate’s EV charging business known as BP Pulse, which plans to invest up to $1 billion in building a nationwide charging network by 2030, including $500 million over the next two to three years.
Tesla’s equipment can charge at up to 250kW and features a Magic Dock connector to connect using the standardized North American Charging Standard (NACS) plug from Tesla or a CCS Combo attachment that supports most other EVs. The press release doesn’t mention whether the deal covers Tesla’s updated V4 Superchargers, which are only just starting to roll out in the US.
Keen Tesla Owners Club users found this new Sparks, Nevada charging station near Tesla’s first Gigafactory under construction earlier this month, along with another in Wilsonville, Oregon.
The new V4 stations feature payment terminals, CCS adapters, and longer cords that can make charging non-Tesla EVs a bit easier in the US.
Toyota and its luxury brand Lexus will start implementing Tesla’s winning charging plug standard known as the North American Charging Standard, or NACS, in “certain” vehicles starting in 2025. Toyota will also provide current and soon-to-be EV buyers with adapters to access 12,000-plus Tesla Supercharger stations.
One of Toyota’s first vehicles to include a NACS connector is a future three-row SUV it is planning for 2025, which will be assembled at the automaker’s plant in Kentucky. Toyota is currently light on EV options compared to most other automakers and has only released the mediocre bZ4X and the Lexus RZ 450e.
ChargePoint, one of the companies racing to put EV charging stations all over the US, announced today that it is beginning to roll out support for the NACS connector that is quickly becoming the national standard. ChargePoint stations that have previously used other ports and power sources can start to use the Tesla-created plug in November, and the company says it now offers “every necessary cable solution to charge an EV in North America and Europe.”
The company first said it would add NACS plugs to some of its stations in June, as the standards organization SAE International announced that the NACS (which stands for “North American Charging Standard”) port would be standardized for cars in North America. A number of car makers have since said they plan to make NACS-capable cars and offer adapters for their existing models.
If you’re an urban-dwelling electric vehicle owner, your public charging options are often limited to slow AC chargers found in tight parking spaces that are too small for typical DC fast chargers. Now Gravity, the company that started an EV taxi fleet in New York City in 2021, designed a compact and super fast DC charging system for big dense cities that can reduce your charging time from hours to just minutes.
Gravity’s system includes small dispenser boxes that the company calls “Distributed Energy Access Points,” which can be mounted above or in front of a parking spot and deliver up to a ridiculously high 500kW of energy. That compares to DC fast charging stations from other companies, which have larger stall units and max out at 350kW.
BMW, famed German automaker and parent company to Mini and Rolls-Royce, announced its intention to adopt Tesla’s electric vehicle charging standard for its future EVs, in the latest win for Elon Musk’s company.
BMW said that owners of electric vehicles with the Combined Charging System (CCS) outlet will get access to Tesla’s Supercharger network in early 2025, most likely through the use of an adapter. BMW will also start producing EVs with Tesla’s charging standard built into the vehicle that same year.
Drivers could already see what stalls are occupied or broken, but with the new update (slowly) rolling out, Tesla now factors ETAs of drivers navigating to the same station and past activity data to predict wait times before arrival. It probably won’t factor in people taping cables to their cars, though.
In other charging news, Tesla is now deploying new V4 Superchargers in the US.
If you’re keeping up with electric vehicle charging news, you know that network providers are having a tough time maintaining chargers — which hurts EV drivers who can’t find reliable places to charge up.
After saying it would spend millions on improving, ChargePoint is linking up with fleet maintenance company Amerit to handle the hard work of keeping EV chargers alive.
Under the agreement, Amerit will leverage its 2,200+ technician footprint to provide prompt, efficient and reliable preventative maintenance, inspections and warranty repairs to ChargePoint’s charging stations across the United States, ensuring that ChargePoint stations are operating at peak performance.
V4 Superchargers feature a longer cable (which can reach the other side of a VW ID Buzz, as we’ve tested) and up to 350kW charging speeds — both of which are key to the US EV charging rollout as cars from more manufacturers start working with Tesla’s plugs.
The new DC fast-charging stations were spotted getting installed in Wilsonville, Oregon, and in Sparks, Nevada, as discovered by Tesla Motors Club users. One image shows it’ll have credit card terminals and “Magic Docks,” which can dispense a CCS dongle for non-Tesla EV compatibility.
Two more major automakers are jumping on the Tesla bandwagon. Hyundai and Kia announced today plans to adopt the North American Charging Standard (NACS), aka the “Tesla plug,” for its future electric vehicles.
Hyundai and Kia models compatible with Tesla’s NACS plug will start arriving in the fourth quarter of 2024. In the first quarter of 2025, the automakers will also provide adapters to its current customers so they can access Tesla Supercharger stations. Hyundai’s current EV lineup, which includes the Ioniq 5 and Ioniq 6, along with Kia’s EV6 and EV9, have charging ports that are compatible with the Combined Charging Standard, or CCS, for DC fast charging.
Honda revealed that the upcoming 2024 Honda Prologue is “expected” to get an EPA-estimated 300 miles of range on a single charge while announcing a slew of new specs for its first all-electric SUV. Built on GM’s Ultium platform, it achieves this range thanks to the 85kWh battery inside, which is the same size as the Chevy Blazer EV.
The two vehicles have many similarities inside and out, from the 121.8-inch wheelbase to the 11-inch driver instrument display. However, the official EPA range for Chevy’s SUV is already known, at 279 miles on a full charge.
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