Electrify America to Add NACS Connector by 2025, While Continuing CCS Support

[Administrator]

Electrify America to add North American Charging Standard (NACS) connector by 2025

Electrify America continues to support CCS-1 plug standard while adding the availability of the NACS connector

Reston, VA (June 29, 2023) – Electrify America announced today it will add the North American Charging Standard (NACS) connector to Electrify America and Electrify Canada’s fast charging networks as part of the company’s commitment to broaden charging solutions for electric vehicle (EV) drivers today and in the future.

Electrify America will continue to provide the Combined Charging System (CCS-1) connector throughout its network as it transitions to also support automakers adding NACS charging ports. The company will work to offer a NACS connector option at existing and future charging stations by 2025 to make charging as convenient as possible for EV owners.

“Since our founding, we have focused on building an inclusive and open hyper-fast charging network to facilitate the adoption of electric vehicles,” said Robert Barrosa, president and CEO of Electrify America. “We look forward to continuing to support industry-wide standards that increase vehicle interoperability and streamline public charging.”

In addition to working with The Charging Interface Initiative (CharIN) and SAE International, Electrify America is participating in the newly created National Charging Experience Consortium (ChargeX), which will focus on strengthening the national charging infrastructure and improving the EV ownership experience.

As e-mobility accelerates, Electrify America will continue to deliver what the customers need. The addition of the NACS connector continues Electrify America’s commitment to drive EV adoption forward and its focus on providing ultra-fast charging for all EVs. The fast-charging network has more than 850 charging stations with about 4,000 individual chargers in the United States and Canada. Electrify America and Electrify Canada stations feature chargers at 150 kilowatts (kW) and 350kW, some of the fastest charging speeds available today.

By opening up Electrify America’s fast charging network to the hundreds of thousands of current and future EV drivers, it will support the EV industry growth by providing more charging options. As the company’s inclusion of the NACS connector continues to evolve, Electrify America will share further updates on its progress, along with current and future station update plans over the coming months.

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[WasserGKuehlt]

Whew. And good on EA for committing themselves to it (not like they had a choice but still).

 

[WasserGKuehlt]

And it gets even better: Volkswagen in discussions with Tesla over its charging standard | Reuters

 

[hifi239]

And it gets even better: Volkswagen in discussions with Tesla over its charging standard | Reuters

Don't like Tesla, but that would be so good in the northeast USA to be able to use superchargers with an adapter. Away from the coast, I drive by six mostly empty supercharger farms to get to an EA charger, where there is a line to use the one partially-working DC plug. I've never seen 150kw here. Does it really exist? The three years' free EA charging has turned out to be a hot mess and fraud on the consumer.

 

[Atipical]

That sounds good, but what will this mean for us? Porsche isn’t going to magically give it’s current Taycan owners a NACS adapter or retrofit NACS into the CCS port…sounds like CCS might turn into CHADEMO - being restricted to one charger at the EA station. I don’t like that.

 

[daveo4EV]

CCS adapter should (and most likley will) be made available - Ford/GM/Rivian have said their adapters will be $100'ish or free - I'm pretty sure the adapter and it's availability will be the least of our concerns.

these adapters are a highly unlikely to be vendo/vehicle specific…

• Tesla already makes/distributes a NCAS to J-1772-EVSE adapter - free w/vehicle purchase since the beginning - $75 if you want another one
• Tesla already makes/distributes a NCAS to CCS-EVSE adapter - $175 my son & daughter have one and use it occasionally
• it's best practice as a J-1772 EV owner to have a TeslaTap (or similar in the vehicle) - a lot of Taycan owner have one of these - it's essentially a J-1772 to NACS-EVSE adatper for AC L1/L2 NACS EVES's…
  • TeslaTap or similar will not work for FastDC charging since CCS1 has separate electrical connectors for DC high voltage…
  • CCS1 vehicles will actually need a separate adapter for FastDC charging…
• the only adapter we're missing is a CCS to NACS adapter - I'm fairly confident this will come…
  • it already exists - there is just no general method to purchase one (yet)…
  • this adapter is at the heart of the MagicDock Superchargers - I've used it multiple times
  • Ford says all customers get one
  • GM says all customers get one
  • Rivian says all customers get one included/free

what is less clear is will VW/Audi/Porsche negotiate access to the Supercharger network - this access is independent of being able to physically plug in and goes to the question of "authorization" to use the network…

Ford/GM have explicitly noted their customers will have authorized access to the Supercharger network - while other vendors have simple noted they are moving to the physical NACS connector but actual access to the Supercharger network is less clear in their annoucements…

Tesla could solve this problem by simply allowing access to all EV's that have the correct port/adapter, but that apprently is not the path they are pursuing.

 

[simcity]

Totally game over now surely now that EA and Volkswagen (will shortly) roll to NACS.

…just a matter for Taycan folk there of getting Porsche NA to mail out your NACS adapters or indeed offer a retrofit charge port.

only question is how much will Porsche $$$ for the ‘privilege’ ??

 

[nickmdp]

Nice, this makes NACS and Supercharger access for Taycans just about a sure thing IMO, and road trips should be an absolute breeze sometime in the near future.

 

[daveo4EV]

Nice, this makes NACS and Supercharger access for Taycans just about a sure thing IMO, and road trips should be an absolute breeze sometime in the near future.

_IF_ we get "access/authorization" to use the supercharger network…that is still an open question.

 

[nickmdp]

_IF_ we get "access/authorization" to use the supercharger network…that is still an open question.

It seems like little more than a formality at this point. EA (and presumably VWAG as a whole) are now planning to support NACS, and have no reason to not try to get their own vehicles compatible with the supercharger network. Tesla could in theory decline and tell VW to pound sand, but boy would there be an interesting anti-trust case against Tesla if they singled out a manufacturer to not give them access to the network.

 

[Tooney]

That sounds good, but what will this mean for us? Porsche isn’t going to magically give it’s current Taycan owners a NACS adapter or retrofit NACS into the CCS port…sounds like CCS might turn into CHADEMO - being restricted to one charger at the EA station. I don’t like that.

Future EA site:

1 chademo dispenser​

1 CCS1 dispenser​

1 NACS dispenser​

1 "wild card" dispenser​

Problems charging?: maybe the car, maybe the dispenser, maybe Porsche back end, maybe EA network, and, -new- maybe it's that adapter you're using!

 

[daveo4EV]

It seems like little more than a formality at this point. EA (and presumably VWAG as a whole) are now planning to support NACS, and have no reason to not try to get their own vehicles compatible with the supercharger network. Tesla could in theory decline and tell VW to pound sand, but boy would there be an interesting anti-trust case against Tesla if they singled out a manufacturer to not give them access to the network.

moving to the connectors does not require network access

Monterey Porsche has 2 CCS chargers on site
I'm not authorized to use them (dealer decisions service vehicle's only and new car prep)

Tesla when talking to a non-Tesla vehicle is going to talk CCS protocols (not supercharger protocols) over an adapter or native NACS port on the vehicle…

everyone is ditching the CCS1 physical connectors because it's fragile (breaks a lot) and an ergonomic disaster…

access to the supercharger network is a _SEPARATE_ issue and not assured just because you have the same shape connector…also true in europe - you can use most but not all supercharger sites even though the connector is mandated…

it still remains to be seen how many vendors are "upgrading" the physical connector on the vehicle's but that may or may not lead to supercharger access…Ford/GM/Rivian are all in - Volvo? @nickmdp corrected me - Volvo has announced supercharger access - thanks for the correction!

also ChargePoint/EVGo/EA are going to add NACS connectors/cables - but that doesn't mean they are "supporting" supercharging - it simply means a Tesla Model Y which already can do CCS won't need to use the CCS adapter to use EA in 2025 - but it will still be a CCS based charging session - just run over a NACS connector/cable…

NACS will make physical access easier - but one still needs to be authorized to use the resource…

 

[nickmdp]

moving to the connectors does not require network access

Monterey Porsche has 2 CCS chargers on site
I'm not authorized to use them (dealer decisions service vehicle's only and new car prep)

Tesla when talking to a non-Tesla vehicle is going to talk CCS protocols (not supercharger protocols) over an adapter or native NACS port on the vehicle…

everyone is ditching the CCS1 physical connectors because it's fragile (breaks a lot) and an ergonomic disaster…

access to the supercharger network is a _SEPARATE_ issue and not assured just because you have the same shape connector…also true in europe - you can use most but not all supercharger sites even though the connector is mandated…

it still remains to be seen how many vendors are "upgrading" the physical connector on the vehicle's but that may or may not lead to supercharger access…Ford/GM/Rivian are all in - Volvo?

also ChargePoint/EVGo/EA are going to add NACS connectors/cables - but that doesn't mean they are "supporting" supercharging - it simply means a Tesla Model Y which already can do CCS won't need to use the CCS adapter to use EA in 2025 - but it will still be a CCS based charging session - just run over a NACS connector/cable…

NACS will make physical access easier - but one still needs to be authorized to use the resource…

Volvo/Polestar both mention supercharging access in their press releases:

https://www.media.volvocars.com/glo...la-superchargers-across-the-united-states-can

https://media.polestar.com/us/en/media/pressreleases/669136

You're not wrong that it's possible VWAG could be the first manufacturer in NA to adopt NACS without also having access to the supercharger network, but to me that seems less likely than the alternative of doing the same thing four major EV manufacturers have done and announced both at the same time.

If you want to take a less optimistic angle, by all means go for it and assume that supercharger access is not a given at this point. I have a full grasp of the issue at hand and have drawn my own conclusions from it (and even explicitly called them opinions). Unless you have information that isn't public knowledge at this point, you're no more right/wrong than I am.

 

[daveo4EV]

Volvo/Polestar both mention supercharging access in their press releases:

https://www.media.volvocars.com/glo...la-superchargers-across-the-united-states-can

https://media.polestar.com/us/en/media/pressreleases/669136

You're not wrong that it's possible VWAG could be the first manufacturer in NA to adopt NACS without also having access to the supercharger network, but to me that seems less likely than the alternative of doing the same thing four major EV manufacturers have done and announced both at the same time.

If you want to take a less optimistic angle, by all means go for it and assume that supercharger access is not a given at this point. I have a full grasp of the issue at hand and have drawn my own conclusions from it (and even explicitly called them opinions). Unless you have information that isn't public knowledge at this point, you're no more right/wrong than I am.

agree - I think we'll have access…

but honestly Tesla could do this with out _ANY_ of the vendor's "agreeing" to do anything - adapter or native NACS plug - Tesla's already doing it for ALL CCS vehicles in Europe (at some/most/not-all sites) and any MagicDock site - so having to make the manufactures "negotiate" for access is a bit of a "power move" in my opinon…and one that undermines their stated "mission" to accelerate the transition to EV's - if they really wanted to "accelerate" the transition they could:

• sell an adapter on their site for CCS1 vehicles
• open all/most superchargers to CCS vehicles
• work equally well with/with-out NACS/adapter
• have the tesla app be how you activate a charging session

but clearly they are not committed to their "mission" statement

 

[whitex]

Tesla could solve this problem by simply allowing access to all EV's that have the correct port/adapter, but that apprently is not the path they are pursuing.

Any theories on why they are doing this? It would be much easier for Tesla to manage payments/authorization through its own app, instead of a variety of apps from different vendors. Every time a Tesla supercharger fails to charge, it's usually Tesla that gets the blame, even if it's the secondary network (e.g. when EA doesn't charge because Porsche fails to authorize, EA is the one blames for poor reliability).

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