- Electric vehicle equipment maker Lectron will manufacture 12,000 NACS to CCS adapters every week to meet increasing demand.
- The adapters allow non-Tesla EVs to charge at the Tesla Superchargers, North America's largest and most reliable charging network.
Lectron is producing 12,000 NACS to CCS adapters per week, the company said on Tuesday. The adapters will allow non-Tesla EV owners access to more than 2,400 Tesla Supercharger stations in the U.S. that house more than 28,400 charging ports, as per the latest figures from the Alternative Fuels Data Center.
"The strategic increase in capacity is solely in response to the rapidly growing demand for reliable EV charging solutions as more automakers adopt the North American Charging Standard (NACS) and gain access to Tesla Superchargers," Lectron said. The production ramp comes when non-Tesla EV owners have had to wait months to receive their OEM-supplied NACS to CCS adapters.
Last year, all major automakers inked deals with Tesla to gain access to its Supercharger network, which remains the largest and most reliable charging network in North America. Ford, General Motors and others decided to provide their EV customers with an adapter that would allow them to plug in at Tesla Superchargers. Future EVs would come with the Tesla NACS port from the factory, automakers said.
To meet the high demand, Tesla said in August that production of the NACS adapters at its gigafactory in Buffalo, New York, had increased to 8,000 units per week.
The NACS adapter rollout, however, has been bumpy. Ford and Rivian owners reported waiting for months to get their complimentary adapter. Ford even asked some owners to stop using the Tesla-supplied adapter because a particular batch had a "potential issue." The Dearborn automaker then started shipping alternative adapters made by Lectron to keep up with demand and diversify the adapter supply network.
As Tesla irons out potential defects in some of its adapters, Lectron has said its Vortex adapter has the exact specifications of the one manufactured by Tesla. It is rated for 1,000 volts and 500 amps and can add up to 150 miles of range in just 15 minutes, depending on the vehicle and Supercharger. It's available on Lectron's website for $200.
InsideEVs tested the third-party Lectron adapter earlier this year and it works as intended. However, at the time, a small number of these adapters had a safety issue. They wouldn't lock into the charging port, meaning owners could unplug them accidentally even when the charging session was ongoing. It seems like that issue has been ironed out.
"With Ford, General Motors, Rivian, Polestar and Volvo gaining access to Tesla Superchargers in 2024—and other automakers gaining access soon—the demand for Tesla adapters continues to rise," Lectron said. The Lectron adapters are compatible with Ford, General Motors, Rivian, Polestar, Hyundai, Kia and Volvo EVs.
