Canadian charging network BC Hydro, which operates fast charging stations in British Columbia, is willing to add Tesla's North American Charging Standard (NACS) charging plugs to its infrastructure.
The company revealed at the end of June that it is working with its supplier to see when the NACS charging connector will be available for new and existing chargers:
"We’re working with our suppliers to see when the NACS connector will be available for new charging stations and also exploring how older charging stations can be converted in the future. Stay tuned!"
It means that sooner rather than later we should see NACS charging plugs available, alongside the currently used Combined Charging System (CCS1) and older CHAdeMO.
As of today, already several charging networks announced the upcoming addition of the NACS plugs, including EVgo and Electrify America. The switch from CCS1 to NACS in North America accelerated once Ford and General Motors announced agreements with Tesla to adopt its charging solution (NACS will become an official SAE standard).
Let's note that if EV manufacturers decide to switch to NACS, charging networks do not have any choice but to adapt to the new situation, because it's in their interest to offer a native charging solution for the most popular electric vehicle models.
In the case of BC Hydro, according to Drive Tesla Canada, the network was started ten years ago, in 2013. It has more than 70 fast charging stations within the province - often 50-kilowatt units, with some addition of 100-150-kW units. The plan is to increase the number of stations in the future to 194.
Despite that the network is not very large, it has some interesting locations across British Columbia, so the addition of NACS would be potentially valuable even for Tesla drivers.
It's worth noting that BC Hydro's charger supplier - FLO - is already working on the NACS option for its fast chargers. The number of manufacturers that signed up for NACS is growing fast (see our CCS1 to Tesla NACS tracker here).
