Polestar and Volkswagen will switch to the NACS standard.
Hyundai and Stellantis are also considering the technology.
Ford, GM, Rivian and Volvo have already announced their switch to the NACS standard.
The Tesla effect is felt these days, as several rival automakers are announcing their switch to NACS (North American Charging Standard) charging stations on board their forthcoming vehicles. Other industry players were using the CCS (Combined Charging System) standard, but at this time, Tesla’s charging stations are already much more widespread in North America, with twice the number of chargers compared to CCS chargers.
Recently, Ford, GM, Rivian and even Volvo have indicated that they will be assembling their next vehicles with a plug using the NACS standard. This time, Volkswagen and Polestar have joined the party.
In fact, the Wolfsburg-based giant (Volkswagen) is said to be in talks with Tesla to adopt the technology favored by the brand co-founded by Elon Musk. In fact, south of the border, where Volkswagen has agreements with the Electrify America network, the latter has already stated that it will switch to this NACS standard, a comment that also applies to Electrify Canada.
We should also mention that Polestar, like its parent company Volvo, will be joining this movement of manufacturers towards the NACS standard. With this agreement, owners of Polestar vehicles will have access to Tesla’s network of charging stations across North America, adding 12,000 more to those already available to owners of vehicles using the CCS standard.
The reliability of Tesla’s charging stations is also one of the factors behind this move by traditional car brands towards NACS technology. According to J.D. Power, Tesla’s charging stations are more reliable than those of the competition. According to the organization, approximately 21.6% of users who visited public charging stations during the first quarter of 2023 were unable to recharge their vehicles. At the other end of the spectrum, around 3.9% of Tesla drivers encountered non-functional Tesla charging stations.
The Hyundai and Stellantis groups are also assessing whether they will switch to this NACS standard, a decision that seems almost inevitable at this point.
