It’s been a few chaotic weeks for electric vehicle (EV) owners just trying to understand where to recharge their batteries. But, headlines aside, there’s been some progress in building a nationwide charging system everyone can use.
Charging provider EVgo has announced that it “will begin deployments of North American Charging Standard (NACS) connectors on its fast charging network later this year.”
Different Brands Use Different Cords
Today, different EVs have different charging ports, and not every EV can plug into every public charger. Tesla has long had a proprietary plug shape — the NACS port — while most of the auto industry has used a second called the “Combined Charging System (CCS).”
Tesla operates a nationwide charging network, which was open only to Tesla users. Several companies had been building other networks using the CCS plug to serve non-Tesla owners. Think of them like gas stations — no one company operates most of America’s gas stations, and that doesn’t matter to drivers at all.
Last year, the auto industry finally realized that division made little sense. For EVs to take off like gas-powered cars, their owners need to be able to use every charger like gas-powered car drivers can use every gas station.
So virtually the entire auto industry agreed to switch to the Tesla-style NACS plug, and Tesla agreed to let them.
This year, most automakers are still building EVs with the CCS port and plan to send owners adapters that let them plug into NACS chargers. Next year, most will build the NACS port into their cars in the first place.
All other networks will need to add the NACS cable to their chargers to make a single nationwide system work. EVgo is one of the first to do so.
The company says its chargers will have two cords — one NACS and one CCS — for the foreseeable future.
EVgo is particularly significant because 40% of its chargers are so-called Level 3 fast chargers — the fastest type of charger, useful to EV owners on long trips who need to refill quickly.
Charging Landscape in Flux
The future of charging is still a bit murky this week.
Tesla operates the country’s largest charging network, but its future is unclear. Late last month, the company abruptly laid off the entire team maintaining and expanding that network. EVgo is one of several companies that jumped on the opportunity Tesla’s decision created.
The company wants to take over some planned future charger sites that Tesla may have abandoned. EVgo says it is “actively exploring additional opportunities to quickly expand its footprint and serve more Tesla EV drivers with potential partners.”
However, a new report says Tesla is rehiring some of the workers it laid off so that the company may resume construction on some of those projects.
