General Motors will adopt Tesla’s electric vehicle charging standard, called the North American Charging Standard, GM Chief Executive Mary Barra said Thursday. Barra announced the news in a Twitter Spaces conversation with Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who also owns Twitter and was the social network’s CEO until Monday, when Linda Iaccarino took over.
GM will incorporate the NACS connector design into its electric vehicles starting in 2025. The collaboration with Tesla also means that GM EV drivers will have greater access to chargers as they will be able to use the 12,000 Tesla Superchargers located in across North America by early 2024. GM says its EV drivers currently use more than 134,000 chargers available through the Ultium Charge 360 initiative and the company’s mobile apps.
“This collaboration is a key part of our strategy and an important next step in rapidly expanding access to fast chargers for our customers,” Barra said in the statement. “This will not only help make the transition to electric vehicles more seamless for our customers, but can help move the industry toward a single standard for charging in North America.”
Despite the agreements between GM, Ford and Tesla, however, the White House on Friday reiterated its announcement from February that EV chargers must be universal and include CCS connections if they are to receive federal funding. A $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill passed in November 2021 earmarked $7.5 billion to create 500,000 public EV chargers in the US by 2030.
General Motors recently announced plans to officially end production of its electric Chevrolet Bolt, which was the most affordable electric car on the market when it was introduced in 2017. The Bolt made history as the first battery electric vehicle on the market for under $50,000 with a range of more than 200 miles. But after reports of spontaneous fires involving the LG battery, the Bolt was subject to a full recall, production was halted for most of the year, and in 2021 GM advised owners to park outdoors — and at least 50 feet away from others vehicles – “in the rare event of a potential fire.”
If you’re thinking about buying an EV, you can read more about CNET’s picks for the best electric cars and EVs of 2023, as well as every EV available in 2023, ranked by range, and how nearly every electric vehicle can to qualify for a $7,500 EV tax credit.
How to use Tesla chargers if you have a GM EV
If you drive a GM EV, you’ll need an adapter to use Tesla Superchargers starting in early 2024. In early 2025, the first GM EVs will include NACS input for direct access to Tesla Superchargers without an adapter.
GM will then provide adapters to drivers of NACS-enabled vehicles to allow charging at current standard charging stations, called CCS for Combined Charging System.
GM’s announcement that it will use Tesla’s charging standard comes on the heels of a similar agreement reached between Tesla and GM rival Ford. This partnership was announced at the end of May.
CNET offers a guide to home EV charging, plus a guide to 12 retail chains that offer EV charging while you shop, and a look at how many EV charging stations the US offers.
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