Logically, it used to be called “Tesla Charging Connector”, but now it has the abbreviation NACS (North American Charging Standard): As the name suggests, the dual connector developed by Tesla in 2012 has become a quasi-standard in the USA. Because after the leading e-car manufacturer opened its plug to other car manufacturers in 2022, brands are now jumping onto NACS one after the other.
Polestar, Volvo, Rivian, General Motors, Ford and even Volkswagen have now announced in turn that they will rely on NACS in the future – and Hyundai with its sister Kia could soon become the next partners. This also means that the also common CCS plug, which is widespread in Europe, is on the wane in the USA. Meanwhile, the CHAdeMO standard has prevailed in Asia.
Example Polestar: The manufacturer, which belongs to the Chinese group Geely via Volvo, will equip all its cars with NACS from 2025. “We applaud the pioneering work Tesla has done to increase the adoption and popularity of electric vehicles, and it’s great to see the Supercharger network being made available in this way. With currently 12,000 charging points, the number of which will continue to increase, this step will significantly increase the acceptance of electric vehicles in an important automotive region,” says CEO Thomas Ingenlath.
Specifically, it means that more and more e-cars can be charged at Tesla’s supercharger stations – which in turn should strengthen Tesla’s position as an energy provider. For alternative charging networks, it is questionable how good NACS is. For example, after 2017 (in response to the diesel scandal), Volkswagen equipped its “Electrify America” network with the SAE J1772, CHAdeMO and CCS charging plugs. For Volkswagen, NACS now also means having to convert its charging network – but there is no official statement on this yet.
In Europe, Tesla drivers are used to charging with two plugs: on the superchargers, the cables with the NACS standard are integrated at the station anyway, and otherwise you usually have a CCS charging cable for the other charging stations in the trunk itself.