Ford said at the end of May that it would start equipping its EVs with the NACS standard from 2024.
The Ford and GM moves are major news as, together with Tesla, the three manufacturers account for around 75% of the US EV market. General Motors, its subsidiaries and its joint venture entities sell vehicles under the Chevrolet, Buick, GMC, Cadillac, Baojun and Wuling brands.
GM says the collaboration will expand access to charging for GM EV drivers at 12,000 Tesla Superchargers throughout North America. It adds that this agreement complements its ongoing investments in charging, reinforcing the company’s focus on expanding charging access across home, workplace, and public spaces and builds on the more than 134,000 chargers available to GM EV drivers today through the company’s Ultium Charge 360 initiative and mobile apps.
“Our vision of the all-electric future means producing millions of world-class EVs across categories and price points, while creating an ecosystem that will accelerate mass EV adoption,” said GM chair and CEO Mary Barra. “This collaboration is a key part of our strategy and an important next step in quickly expanding access to fast chargers for our customers. Not only will it help make the transition to electric vehicles more seamless for our customers, but it could help move the industry toward a single North American charging standard.”
The Tesla Supercharger Network will be open to GM EV drivers starting in 2024 and will initially require the use of an adapter. Beginning in 2025, the first GM EVs will be built with a NACS inlet for direct access to Tesla Superchargers without an adapter. In the future, GM will make adapters available for drivers of NACS-enabled vehicles to allow charging on CCS-capable fast charge stations.
GM will also integrate the Tesla Supercharger Network into its vehicle and mobile apps, helping drivers locate, pay for, and initiate charging at available Tesla Superchargers. This will complement the charging experience at the growing Ultium Charge 360 Network of charging stations, as well as additional charging stations GM makes available through existing integrations with other charging networks.
Rebecca Tinucci, Tesla’s senior director of charging infrastructure, added: “Our mission is to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy. Giving every EV owner access to ubiquitous and reliable charging is a cornerstone of that mission. We’re excited to work with other industry leaders like General Motors to provide access to the Tesla Supercharger Network via the North American Charging Standard.”
GM says it continues to work with others in the industry to accelerate the installation of home, work and public charging as part of its Ultium Charge 360 initiative. This includes collaborations with Pilot Company and EVgo that will add more than 5,000 DC fast chargers to the nearly 13,000 existing DC fast chargers in North America, as well as the deployment of community chargers throughout the US and Canada. The manufacturer says these initiatives, combined with this new collaboration with Tesla, will offer GM customers access to one of the largest integrated networks of high-power charging stations in North America.
