Electrify America and Blink are the latest EV charging station companies to announce that they’ll add NACS connectors to their EV chargers.
Electrify America and Blink adopt NACS
NACS – or the North American Charging Standard, previously known as the Tesla charging connector – is an EV charging connector system that Tesla developed and owned.
So what today’s announcement means is that Tesla drivers and EVs that feature NACS will be able to charge at Blink and Electrify America chargers without having to use an adapter.
Both Electrify America and Blink say their chargers will continue to feature existing CCS-1 connectors; they’re just adding NACS charging ports as well.
Electrify America is aiming to offer a NACS connector option at existing and future DC fast charging stations by 2025. With more than 850 charging stations and about 4,000 individual chargers in the US and Canada, it’s the largest open DC fast charging network in the US.
Blink says it will begin to produce NACS DC fast chargers by October 2023, and it’s also going to offer NACS connectors on its Level 2 chargers. Unlike Electrify America, Blink does not indicate that it will add NACS connectors to its existing chargers.
Harjinder Bhade, chief technology officer at Blink Charging, said, “Whether it’s a Tesla Model S driver needing to plug into a NACS charger while shopping, or a Chevy Volt driver seeking a quick charge via a CCS charger during a summer vacation trip, our chargers will be accessible to every kind of driver.”
Electrek’s Take
My colleague Fred Lambert noted a couple of weeks ago that Electrify America doesn’t manufacture its own chargers but that its suppliers, such as ABB and Tritium, had made announcements to adopt NACS, so this decision from Electrify America was expected.
Today’s announcement is good news because it expands options and reduces hassle for Tesla drivers and other EV models that adopt NACS – although the Tesla network is pretty darned good.
What non-Tesla EV drivers REALLY want in the near future is the ability to use the Tesla supercharging network in addition to other chargers.
Top comment by Hydrogen Last
EA officially supporting NACS is wonderful news.
It's gonna be hard for VW to resist much longer. It would be incredibly dumb to sell a car that supports only a CCS connector that very few cars will from this point forward. EA isn't the only charging network and arguably the least attractive to EV's based on metrics captured by Out of Spec 'Rate your charge'.
I have Tesla supercharging near me. I also have an Electrify America DC fast charging station near me. To have the option to charge quickly and efficiently on both of those EV chargers, in either my ID.4 or my Tesla – without any glitches – would be amazing.
Photo: Electrify America
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