There’s been a lot of well justified consternation in recency weeks about the sudden and abandonment of the combined charging system (CCS) connector for EV chargers in favor the Tesla designed North American Charging Standard (NACS). I don’t like the idea of our nation’s entire transportation energy infrastructure being controlled by one company or worse, one racist, misogynistic, homo and transphobic non-genius man with decidedly authoritarian political tendencies. But for the moment at least, rather than imperiling the EV revolution as one Jalopnik writer implies, I think this is exactly what needs to be done to preserve it. Let me explain why, which includes improving EV affordability.
I’m not a fan of Elon Musk. Since he acquired Twitter, I have no longer engaged on the site. I haven’t purchased any products from his companies. I think his and Tesla’s approach to developing and deploying assisted and automated driving systems has been reckless and irresponsible.
But, I also don’t believe that the nascent EV revolution would be nearly as far along with as many appealing EVs on offer in 2023 were it not for Tesla. The company has shown the way to the rest of the industry on the electrification front. When Nissan developed a compact and frankly weird looking EV with limited range, the Leaf never really managed to make it past the early adopter crowd. Tesla showed that if you create a car that was truly appealing on its own merits regardless of the propulsion system, people will buy it. If you then follow up by making the experience of using it as painless as possible with lots of fast, and more importantly reliable charging stations, they will keep buying the product.
Tesla opted to create a proprietary DC fast charging system (including the connector now known as NACS) back when no industry standard existed. When that standard finally emerged as CCS, it was heavier, bulkier and just plain less pleasant to use. When CCS did finally arrive, other companies began setting up networks of charging stations. There are now more than three times as many CCS charging stations across the US and Canada as there are Supercharger stations although there are less than two-thirds as many actual chargers because Tesla locations often have a dozen or more chargers compared to often just one or two at many CCS sites.
Current CCS networks are the real threat
The problem is the numbers aren’t enough. In fact the number of locations or chargers is only meaningful if the chargers actually work as expected. Therein lies the problem and why automakers are rushing to adopt NACS and add in-vehicle support for Tesla’s network. Ford tried to replicate the Tesla experience by being the first automaker to adopt the Plug&Charge standard and aggregating multiple charging operators within a single in-vehicle interface.
All the operators had to do was make sure the chargers actually worked and delivered electrons when drivers plugged in. All too often, they don’t, either failing to authenticate, or delivering only a fraction of the current expected.. That doesn’t typically happen with a gas pump or a Supercharger.
Electrify America exists only because Volkswagen had to commit to investing $2 billion on charging infrastructure as part of its settlement with regulators for cheating on diesel emissions. EA spent the money and put in more than more than 3,300 chargers at nearly 800 sites. They signed up Ford, Hyundai Motor Group, VW and others to provide some amount of complimentary charging when people bought an EV. Then they filled to deliver when it really counted, when those vehicles got plugged in. EVgo, Chargepoint and others have done a bit better in surveys, but they still fail far too often.
If customers buy an EV and then can’t reliably charge it, they are far less likely to buy a second or third example. Or worse for the rest of the auto industry, those customers will buy and EV – but from Tesla. In either case, the tens of billions they are each investing in electric vehicles will be squandered.
This is why Ford, GM, Volvo, Polestar, Rivian and Mercedes-Benz have all announced their plans to add support for charging on the Tesla Supercharger network and eventually switch from CCS to NACS connectors. In all likelihood, by the end of 2023 most if not all automakers in the US market will follow suit and probably by the end of 2026 if not sooner, there will be no new EVs built with a CCS port.
For now, that means relying on Tesla and the fickle whims of its CEO to provide the same seamless and reliable charging experience that Tesla owners get today. Having spent more than 30 years in the automotive industry, I can guarantee that not a single other automotive executive wants to be reliant on Musk for any longer than necessary. They need to do this for now to convince the customers for the coming wave of new EVs that they can charge as reliably as they can fill a gas tank. If consumers aren’t convinced, the EV revolution truly is imperiled.
However, the long game is that they hope the other charging network operators will finally realize that they have a direct competitor with a much, much better product. EA, Chargepoint and many of the charging equipment manufacturers have already said they will start installing NACS cords and cables at new and existing chargers. That’s a good first step because the slimmer, lighter NACS connector is far easier to insert than the huge CCS. In winter weather conditions, the thick CCS cable gets very stiff and users that have hand mobility issues such as arthritis can struggle to maneuver the charging cable to plug in.
There are still technical hurdles
Simply adopting NACS though won’t be sufficient for any of these companies. The non-Tesla networks need to step and ensure their equipment is reliable and when it does break, that it gets repaired promptly.
Even Tesla faces a challenge though. One of the biggest problems on the CCS side has been software. Unlike a gas pump that doesn’t care what its plugged into, an EV charger has to talk to the vehicle continuously to understand what current and voltage the vehicle can accept and to shut off when the battery is fully charged, thus preventing damage. So far Tesla has only had to support its own vehicles which all have the same software and hardware. Apple has the same advantage in that they control the entire ecosystem. Once all the other manufacturers are using Superchargers, will they still be as reliable? Tesla will have to do a lot more software support in the future.
Superchargers also have very short cables because all Teslas have their charge port in the same location at the left rear corner. This is not true for other brands which put ports all over the vehicle, front fenders, front fascia, right rear. This has led to non-Tesla drivers that try to use Superchargers equipped with the Magic Dock to have to take multiple parking spaces in order for the cable to reach the charge port. Tesla will need to install longer cables if it wants other to use its chargers without inconveniencing other drivers.
There is also the problem of supporting higher voltage systems. Currently Superchargers are only designed for the 400V systems that Tesla uses, but an increasing number of vehicles are coming to market with 800-900V systems such as those from Hyundai and Lucid. These systems end up charging much more slowly on a Supercharger than a native 400V vehicle so a solution will be needed for this.
Simply adopting NACS and adding support for Superchargers isn’t going to be a panacea as outlined above. There are still technical issues to resolve. Hopefully, SAE’s decision to expedite adding NACS support to the charging standard will help to address some or all of these.
Aiding EV Affordability
But there is another important reason why this transition could be a good thing for the EV revolution. Affordability. Let’s face it, people tend to buy way more vehicle than they actually need. No one needs a 1,000-hp, 9,200-lb off-road behemoth. Most consumers that buy Ford F-150s would probably get all the functionality they need from a Maverick. As much Americans talk about road trips they are far from frequent. Upwards of 80% of drivers go less than 40 miles per day, so why do they need 400-600 miles of range per charge?
The biggest reason that EVs are so expensive is the battery. If people could acknowledge that they can get buy with a battery that yields 150 miles per charge (which will still provide 100 miles even in the depths of winter), they could cut the price of the battery by one-third from what is becoming typical today and slash thousands of dollars off the purchase price. A one-third smaller battery also takes one-third less time to recharge.
If drivers know that they can charge as easily and nearly as quickly as they can fill a gas tank, they are more likely to acknowledge that they don’t need as much driving range. In that case they will be able to buy an EV for a lot less money.
If we make the switch to NACS and all of the issues above are resolved and we have a more widespread and reliable public charging network, the EV revolution will be supported, not imperiled. But it all depends on all of the other EV charging network operators stepping up and delivering what is expected.
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