Detroit — A major US automotive industry body says it will set performance standards for Tesla’s electric vehicle charging cords, taking another step towards using Tesla plugs on all EVs.
The move by SAE International, formerly the Society of Automotive Engineers, comes after Ford, General Motors and Rivian said they would join Tesla’s larger Supercharger network and adopt its North American charging standard connector in new versions of their electric vehicles.
But a rival connector called CCS is still in thousands of existing EVs and will remain in use.
SAE said on Tuesday that it is already working on the standards and hopes to complete them within six months. The standards will govern how plugs connect to charging stations, cyber security measures, charging speed and reliability requirements, said Frank Menchaca, president of Sustainable Mobility Solutions for the Innovation arm of SAE’s nonprofit parent company.
Guidehouse Research e-mobility analyst Sam Abuelsamid said the move likely signals the end of CCS, which was developed according to standards set by SAE. “It’s only a matter of time before no one is making new EVs CCS connectors on them,” he said.
The CCS is much more difficult to operate and plug into vehicles than Tesla’s NACS connector, he said. Abuelsamid said most consumers who have used both would choose Tesla’s connector.
But he said charging stations will have to accommodate both plugs for many years because so many vehicles are equipped with the CCS connector.
Menchaca said Tesla and industry engineers are working on the standards in partnership. He said automakers and consumers would not have to pay royalties to Tesla, but EV owners would have to pay Tesla for charging on their network.
The organization is not choosing which connector will be used, he said, adding that the industry still wants to support CCS.
Menchaca said SAE is setting the standard for NACS because Ford, GM and Rivian have adopted it and it looks like it’s ready to be used really widely. So talking to all the stakeholders we decided that it needs to be standardised.
The standards, he said, will provide more choice, convenience and access to a larger charging network. He added, “Who knows if other people get involved, this could be a major way people make accusations.”
Other automakers such as Stellantis and Hyundai are considering switching to Tesla’s connector.
Currently, almost all automakers use CCS except for Tesla.
Tesla’s Superchargers are distinguished by other automakers because it has more direct current fast-charging plugs than any other network in the US, and its stations are in prime locations along freeway travel corridors.
GM, Ford and Rivian owners will have access to more than 12,000 Tesla Supercharger plugs. According to the Department of Energy, Tesla has 1,797 Supercharger stations and more than 19,000 plugs in the US.
Since the stations are direct current fast-chargers, they can charge EVs relatively quickly while people travel.
ChargePoint has the largest charging network in the US with more than 32,000 stations and 55,000 plugs, but most of them are Level 2 chargers that can take up to eight hours to fully charge a battery.
The Department of Energy says there are about 54,000 public charging stations nationwide with more than 136,000 plugs. While most are slow Level 2 chargers, the network of DC fast chargers is growing.
Still, industry analysts say the pace is growing for Tesla’s switch to the connector to become the standard in the US, although vehicles will need to be able to use both connectors for some time.
GM and Ford say they are not making any payment to Tesla for access to the network.
