Ford, GM, Volvo, Nissan... Why Do They Follow Tesla's Charging Standards?

Nissan Adopts Tesla Charging Standard NACS
First Among Japanese Automakers... Others Likely to Follow
North American and European Cars Also Adopting Tesla Method
Addressing Customer Complaints Over Charging Station Shortages
"Tesla May Dominate Electric Vehicle Charging Platform"

Tesla Electric Vehicle Charging Station Supercharger

Drivers of internal combustion engine vehicles do not worry about whether the fuel nozzle fits their car's fuel inlet when choosing a gas station. They only pay attention to how cheap the price is. On the other hand, electric vehicle drivers around the world have to find charging stations compatible with their electric cars. When buying an electric vehicle, they even need to consider the charging port standard. This is because electric vehicle charging standards have not yet been fully unified. However, recently, a major change has begun. North American, European, and Japanese automakers have started announcing one by one that they will adopt Tesla's charging standard.

On the 20th, Japanese automaker Nissan announced that it would adopt Tesla's electric vehicle charging standard, NACS (North American Charging Standard), in North America. Nissan is the first Japanese automaker to support NACS. Nissan plans to provide adapters compatible with NACS charging stations for the 'Ariya' model sold in North America starting in 2024. From 2025, electric vehicles released for the North American market will be equipped with NACS charging ports.

Earlier last month, North American and European automakers such as Ford, GM, Rivian, and Volvo announced that they would support Tesla's NACS. With Nissan, a Japanese company, also announcing support for Tesla's NACS, there is speculation that Tesla might unify the electric vehicle charging standards worldwide. This is because other Japanese automakers are now more likely to adopt NACS following Nissan. The dilemma for other global companies like Hyundai Motor, Kia, and Stellantis is deepening.

Japan, home to Toyota, the world's largest automaker, has been promoting its own charging standard, CHAdeMO, as the global standard. In Japan, 96% of charging stations are based on CHAdeMO.

However, as Japanese companies have been slow to transition to electric vehicles, many have evaluated that CHAdeMO is insufficient to be recognized as a global standard. In response, Japan recently proposed a new standard called Chaoji in alliance with China. China has been trying to internationalize its own electric vehicle charging standard, GB/T, leveraging its position as the world's largest electric vehicle market. Chinese electric vehicles support the GB/T charging standard in the domestic market. However, GB/T has little influence outside China.

Despite the ambitions of China and Japan, the global electric vehicle charging market has so far been divided between CCS and NACS. North American and European automakers such as Ford, GM, Volkswagen, and BMW jointly announced the CCS (Combined Charging System) charging standard in 2011. Hyundai Motor and Kia also adopted the CCS standard.

Tesla launched the Model S in 2012 without following CCS and introduced its own standard, NACS. Along with this, Tesla began building its nationwide Supercharger network for charging its electric vehicles. Currently, there are 20,000 Superchargers in North America alone, accounting for 60% of all electric vehicle charging stations in North America.

Why have North American and European automakers, who had been following the CCS standard, announced support for Tesla's NACS, their competitor's standard? Bloomberg News analyzed that this is because the interests of Tesla and competing electric vehicle companies align.

Tesla's NACS charging standard (Photo by Tesla)

First, for traditional automakers like Ford and GM to quickly enter the electric vehicle market, expanding charging infrastructure is necessary. Sharing Tesla's Superchargers, which account for more than 60% of charging stations in North America, can alleviate customer complaints about the lack of charging stations.

Moreover, CCS charging stations have reportedly faced many complaints from drivers about broken chargers. Bloomberg News reported, "In a JD Power survey in the U.S. market, Tesla Superchargers consistently received higher ratings from drivers compared to other charging networks such as ChargePoint, Blink Charging, and EVgo," adding, "Broken charging stations have frustrated drivers."

Traditional internal combustion engine automakers have judged that, to rapidly expand electric vehicle sales, it is more beneficial for corporate interests to be compatible with Tesla's Superchargers, which offer better quality and service, rather than insisting on the CCS standard.

From Tesla's perspective, there is no downside. Tesla, which had operated Superchargers exclusively, announced last November that it would open its technology to competitors. This move was to receive $7.5 billion in subsidies from the U.S. government for electric vehicle charging stations. Initially, the U.S. government planned to provide subsidies only for CCS standard charging stations.

Plug and socket of CCS charging standard

By opening Superchargers to competitors, Tesla can expand its charging revenue beyond subsidies. According to analysis by market research firm Piper Sandler & Co., Tesla is expected to generate $3 billion in charging revenue by 2030.

Additionally, by opening Superchargers, Tesla gains the opportunity to expose competing electric vehicle drivers to the Tesla ecosystem, thereby expanding its potential customer base. It is also a bonus that Tesla can acquire data on other companies' charging customers using Superchargers.

However, there is a risk that Tesla customers' dissatisfaction may increase. Tesla had operated Superchargers exclusively to provide high-quality charging services solely to its customers, thereby enhancing customer satisfaction. Now that Superchargers must be shared with other electric vehicle drivers, Tesla drivers may have to wait longer for charging.

Foreign media are evaluating that Tesla is in a favorable position to dominate electric vehicle charging standards. Bloomberg News stated, "Like internal combustion engine vehicles, electric vehicles will eventually have a unified charging standard," adding, "Market share will be the biggest variable."

In this regard, Japan's Nihon Keizai Shimbun analyzed, "Following Nissan, other Japanese automakers may also support NACS," and even suggested, "Tesla might become like GAFA (Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon) by dominating the electric vehicle platform." There are concerns that Tesla could platformize the electric vehicle market like other big tech companies.

Korean electric vehicle-related companies are facing deep dilemmas. Hyundai Motor is still reviewing whether to adopt NACS. SK Signet, which supplies CCS standard chargers to North American charging station operators (CPOs) such as Electrify America and EVgo, announced plans to release connectors supporting the NACS standard within this year.

Meanwhile, the NACS charging standard uses two pins to deliver alternating current (AC) and direct current (DC) power, making the charging port smaller and lighter compared to CCS, which is advantageous for space utilization. It also features Plug and Charge functionality, offering excellent user convenience. However, its charging speed is relatively slow at 250 kW per hour.

The CCS charging standard has separate AC and DC terminals in one charging port and is larger and heavier than NACS. However, its advantage is the ability to perform rapid charging at 350 kW per hour.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.