Discuss: GM Embraces Tesla's Charging Connector: The North American Charging Standard Is Now True to Its Name

[Not a Tesla App]

General Motors joins Ford in adopting Tesla's North American Charging Standard (NACS), propelling the industry towards a more harmonized future of electric vehi… Read More

GM Embraces Tesla's Charging Connector: The North American Charging Standard Is Now True to Its Name

General Motors joins Ford in adopting Tesla's North American Charging Standard (NACS), propelling the industry towards a more harmonized future of electric vehi

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[PrescottAZRichard]

I’m really happy to see this happening. That said- I have to admit I haven’t used a CCS charger yet. My hope is that the adaption of the connector also comes with the PLACEMENT of the charge port on the driver’s rear corner. That’s needed to be part of the standard IMO.

So who’s next?

 

[RNHurt]

I used CCS while on a trip to England and I really hated it. The connector was difficult to handle and the payment issues were terrible. The one time I used a Tesla Supercharger was a bit better, but it was still more difficult to use than NACS.

As for placement, manufacturers could put the port in either the drivers rear panel (like Tesla) or passenger front panel; either one should work. I think the front part might be easier for trucks as the bed is sometimes changed or removed. With a bit more cable, or a smaller vehicle, you might also be able to put the port on the front of the car.

Who's next? I kinda hope Rivian get on board. I think they would benefit greatly and they don't really have that many cars on the road now so it shouldn't be too big of a change.

 

[TeslaVoltastic]

They should just adopt CCS in the US. The rest of the world has decided on CCS and the US once again commits to something incompatible.

 

[PrescottAZRichard]

I hadn’t thought about it, but the companies that build the charging infrastructure are an important piece of this puzzle. According to Electrek quite a few charger companies are now on board.

 

[RNHurt]

They should just adopt CCS in the US. The rest of the world has decided on CCS and the US once again commits to something incompatible.

As has been said multiple times in recent days, the American version of CCS (v1) isn't compatible with the rest of the world's CCS (v2) anyway. In order to follow "the rest of the world" we would have to change the connector anyway; why not go with something much (MUCH) better!? Besides, Tesla has >80% market penetration in the US so it makes sense to standardize on the connector that is most common.

 

[RNHurt]

I hadn’t thought about it, but the companies that build the charging infrastructure are an important piece of this puzzle. According to Electrek quite a few charger companies are now on board.

I'm super happy that the infrastructure companies are on-board with the NACS charging plug, but I'm not convinced it will actually help anything. Sure, the CCS form factor is bad, but the biggest challenge with non-Tesla charging stations has been payment and process. They insist on building out custom apps and including screens and payment proccesors in their charging stalls. This massively complicates the whole process and is completely unnecessary.

My hope is that when these charging companies re-tool they don't just slap a NACS plug on the end of the cable and call it a day. ISO 15118 (Plug N Charge) exists for a reason. I think Telsa is using a version of ISO 15118 so I'm not sure if it would work with Superchargers or not, but I'm guessing they can make it work.

Side note: what about the J1772 connector? Should that go away in favor of NACS? There are several free public chargers in my city (mostly at state parks) that are J1772. I wonder if they will convert...

 

[PrescottAZRichard]

True, there is a LOT more to the 'charging experience' than just the plug.