Volvo joins Ford, GM and converts to Tesla NACS charging standard

Volvo has announced that from 2025 all new EVs sold in North America will be equipped with the North American Charging Standard (NACS) developed by Tesla.

In a press release the Swedish carmaker said it was the first European car maker to cut such a deal, giving electric Volvo car drivers access to the Tesla’s Supercharger network across the United States, Canada, and Mexico.

The arrangement gives fully electric Volvo drivers access to 12,000 new fast-charge points in North America, a figure that is expected to grow as Tesla continues to expand its Supercharger network in the region.

Volvo is the latest automaker to announce it is adopting the NACS charging port for its EVs in North America following announcements from Ford, GM and Rivian.

The major automakers announcement earlier this month triggered a domino effect as a number of major EV charging networks joined in, including  EVgo, Blink Charging, ChargePoint and the Australian-based Tritium. Kempower also announced it was making the switch to NACS, as did ABB.

Tesla’s NACS connector is lighter and more compact than CCS connectors, making it easier for motorists to use. The single connector also supports both AC and DC charging.

SAE announces it will standardise the NACS

The Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) cemented the NACS position as the main charging system for North America this week announcing it would standardise the connector.

“This will ensure that any supplier or manufacturer will be able to use, manufacture, or deploy the NACS connector on electric vehicles (EVs) and at charging stations across North America,” the SAE said on Tuesday.

“Ford Motor Company, General Motors, Rivian, and a number of EV charging companies recently announced plans to adopt the NACS connector through adaptors or future product offerings,”

SAE says the standardisation process is an important step in building an interoperable national charging network that will work for all EV drivers.

“Taken together, these efforts will contribute substantially to SAE’s commitment to secure, clean and connected transportation, accessible to everyone,” said SAE International CEO David L. Schutt.

“We’re delighted to do our part in aligning the excellent efforts of industry with those of government entities like the Joint Office to advance sustainable mobility on a national level.”

The new SAE NACS connector standard will be developed on an expedited timeframe and is one of several key initiatives to strengthen the North American EV charging infrastructure.

This includes SAE-ITC’s Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) for cyber-secure charging. In close cooperation with National Labs, SAE also is contributing to reliability design for the national ChargeX consortium.

Australia, it should be noted, is unlikely to be impacted by this. Australia mostly operates with the highly regarded CCS2 standard, and Tesla has modified its EVs in Australia rather than introduce NACS, and used CCS2 on its local supercharging network.