Electrify America, one of the largest EV fast-charging networks in North America, announced today that it will add the North American Charging Standard (NACS) connectors at its stations in the United States and Canada (Electrify Canada).
The company, established by Volkswagen Group, outlined a plan to add NACS plugs at its existing and future charging stations by 2025, as more and more EV manufacturers (Ford, General Motors, Rivian, Volvo and Polestar) announced a switch from the Combined Charging System (CCS1) to NACS in the region. The Tesla-developed NACS connector will become an SAE standard.
At the same time, Electrify America "will continue to provide the Combined Charging System (CCS-1) connector throughout its network as it transitions to also support automakers adding NACS charging ports."
That's a significant announcement from a major charging network, which currently operates more than 850 stations (about 4,000 individual chargers rated at up to 150 or up to 350 kilowatts).
Robert Barrosa, president and CEO of Electrify America said:
“Since our founding, we have focused on building an inclusive and open hyper-fast charging network to facilitate the adoption of electric vehicles,. We look forward to continuing to support industry-wide standards that increase vehicle interoperability and streamline public charging.”
Electrify America's announcement is coming a bit later than other charging networks - like EVgo, ChargePoint or Blink - which announced their decision a few weeks ago. As we understand, Electrify America might be more reluctant due to its connection to the Volkswagen Group, which had to evaluate options first.
In our opinion, the addition of NACS plugs is a reasonable and inevitable decision for all charging networks in North America, simply because the majority of new electric cars in the region will be natively compatible with the NACS connector in a matter of two years or so.
Charging networks must follow EV manufacturers and can't really afford to ignore the majority of EV customers. Considering what charger manufacturers are announcing, there will be plenty of dual-head (CCS1 and NACS) DC fast chargers, and AC charging points to choose from.
Electrify America noted also that it is working with other industry partners:
"In addition to working with The Charging Interface Initiative (CharIN) and SAE International, Electrify America is participating in the newly created National Charging Experience Consortium (ChargeX), which will focus on strengthening the national charging infrastructure and improving the EV ownership experience."
Further details of the company’s inclusion of the NACS connector will be announced along the way, over the coming months.
