The North American Charging Standard (NACS) (previously known as "Tesla charging connector") is an

electric vehicle An electric vehicle (EV) is a vehicle that uses one or more electric motors for propulsion. It can be powered by a collector system, with electricity from extravehicular sources, or it can be powered autonomously by a battery (sometimes cha ...

charging standard developed by Tesla, used on all North American market Tesla vehicles since 2012, and was opened for use to other manufacturers in 2022.

Ford Ford commonly refers to: * Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford * Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river Ford may also refer to: Ford Motor Company * Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company * Ford F ...

General Motors The General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is the largest automaker in the United States and ...

, and Aptera have announced that they intend to use the NACS standard in the future.

History

Tesla developed a proprietary charging connector for the

Tesla Model S The Tesla Model S is a Battery electric vehicle, battery-powered liftback car serving as the flagship model of Tesla, Inc. The Model S features a dual-motor, all-wheel drive layout, although earlier versions of the Model S featured a rear-moto ...

in 2012, and used it on all of their mainstream EVs, including the

Model 3 The Tesla Model 3 is a Compact executive car, compact executive Sedan (car), sedan that is Battery electric vehicle, battery powered and produced by Tesla, Inc., Tesla. Limited production of the Model 3 began in mid-2017, with the first produ ...

, Model X, and Model Y. Tesla's business strategy was markedly different from other EV manufacturers and Tesla built a coast-to-coast charging network across the United States, and later built a substantial charging network in a number of developed countries where Tesla sold their cars. After initial testing allowing non-Tesla EVs to use

Supercharger In an internal combustion engine, a supercharger compresses the intake gas, forcing more air into the engine in order to produce more power for a given displacement. The current categorisation is that a supercharger is a form of forced induct ...

stations in Europe, Tesla began to test a proprietary Magic Dock connector at select North American Supercharger locations in March 2023. Magic Dock allows for an EV to charge with either NACS or CCS1, giving almost all BEVs the chance to charge. However, most of Tesla's North American Supercharger locations currently provide only NACS. In July 2022, Steve Fambro and Chris Anthony, co-CEOs of Aptera, created a

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petition to ask lawmakers to require by law the Tesla connector and charging standard on new EVs in the United States. The petition received over 42,000 signatures. In November 2022, Tesla renamed its previously proprietary charging connector to "North American Charging Standard" (NACS) and opened the standard to make the specs available to other EV manufacturers. The name was criticized at the time as the connector was not the standard in North America, with all other automakers using the

Combined Charging System The Combined Charging System (CCS) is a standard for charging electric vehicles. It can use or connectors to provide power at up to . These two connectors are extensions of the IEC 62196 Type 1 and Type 2 connectors, with two additional di ...

(CCS) connector. Tesla made the case that its NACS should become the connector of choice because it is more compact, Tesla vehicles outnumber CCS equipped vehicles by a margin of two-to-one, and Tesla's Supercharging network has 60% more NACS posts than all the CCS-equipped networks combined. Just eight months later however, there were several EV manufacturers switching to NACS connectors on their cars and EV charging station providers adding NACS connector support. In November 2022, Aptera officially announced that it would incorporate the NACS standard into its vehicles. They had been showing the Tesla connector in the photographs of their prototypes. In May 2023,

announced integration of the NACS system into their electric vehicles. Starting in 2025, new Ford electrics will have native NACS charge ports on the vehicle. Legacy Ford electric models will be able to connect to the NACS system and its chargers by use of a CCS/NACS adapter, and will pay for their charge via the FordPass app beginning in early 2024. Shortly after the Ford announcement, EV fast-charger company FreeWire Technologies announced plans to equip its battery-integrated Boost Chargers with NACS plugs by mid-2024. In June 2023,

CEO

Mary Barra Mary Teresa Barra (née Makela; born December 24, 1961) is an American businesswoman who has been the chair and chief executive officer (CEO) of General Motors since January 15, 2014. She is the first female CEO of a 'Big Three' automaker. In De ...

announced that GM would also adopt the NACS standard starting in 2025. Other EV charging station providers including

EVgo EVgo is an electric vehicle DC fast charging station network in the United States, with more than 850 charging locations . The company's charge stations are located in 34 states and are compatible with all major auto manufacturers.In 2022 the co ...

, with approximately 1000 charging stations in the United States, and

FLO ''Flo'' is an American sitcom television series and a spin-off of ''Alice'' that aired on CBS from March 24, 1980, to June 30, 1981. The series starred Polly Holliday reprising her role as sassy and street-smart waitress Florence Jean "Flo" Castl ...

, a Quebec-based EV charging station company with over 90,000 chargers, have announced plans to add NACS connector support to their chargers.

Competing standards

Other charging standards for high-power DC charging of electric vehicles include: *

Type 1: CCS1 is used at non-Tesla charging stations in North America * Combined Charging System Type 2:

CCS2 The IEC 62196-2 Type 2 connector (often referred to as Mennekes for the company that designed it) is used for charging electric vehicles, mainly within Europe, as it was declared standard by the EU. Based on widespread red IEC 60309 three phase pl ...

Used in Europe and Oceania. Tesla vehicles sold in those countries use CCS2. *

CHAdeMO CHAdeMO is a fast-charging system for battery electric vehicles, developed starting in 2010 by the CHAdeMO Association, formed by the Tokyo Electric Power Company and five major Japanese automakers. The name is an abbreviation of "CHArge de MOve ...

: Used in Japan *

GB/T The National Standards of the People's Republic of China (), coded as , are the standards issued by the Standardization Administration of China under the authorization of Article 10 of the Standardization Law of the People's Republic of China. A ...

: Used in China. Tesla vehicles sold in China use GB/T. As of November 2021, Tesla's Supercharger network was the largest DC fast-charging network in the US, with the next-largest operator providing only ten percent as many fast charging stations. However, the total number of public CCS1 charging stations is three times greater than the number of Tesla Supercharger stations, and the overwhelming majority of public AC level 2 charging stations use the SAE J1772 connector. In Europe, new Tesla vehicles and newer Tesla Superchargers now use standard CCS2 plugs, instead of the proprietary Tesla Type 2 plugs (European Tesla plug). However Tesla still sells vehicles with this proprietary connector, and support an adapter to CCS/Combo2. Older Tesla S/X vehicles can be retrofitted to support the use of this adapter.

References

External links

* * Does not mention NACS by name, but discusses Tesla's "opening and expansion of its network" "for use by other automakers".
NACS technical specification document
{{Tesla Motors Automotive standards DC power connectors Electrical power connectors Tesla, Inc.