The Volkswagen Group might be another electric vehicle manufacturer that will sign-up for Tesla’s North American Charging Standard (NACS) charging connector.
According to Reuters, the company is in talks with Tesla to adopt NACS in its electric cars, which are sold under several brands (Volkswagen, Audi, Porsche, and Scout in the future) in North America.
“Volkswagen Group and its brands are currently evaluating the implementation of the Tesla North American Charging Standard (NACS) for its North American customers,”
Earlier today, we reported also about the Volkswagen Group’s Electrify America fast charging network, which announced the addition of NACS connectors at its stations by 2025.
Several manufacturers already announced a switch from the Combined Charging System (CCS1) charging connector to NACS. The list, includes Ford, General Motors, Rivian, Volvo and Polestar. The Tesla-developed charging connector itself is expected to soon be standardized by SAE.
First Squawk reports that “Volkswagen Group is actively discussing opportunities with Tesla to optimize NACS performance and value for our customers,” which indicates that there might be things that require additional analysis.
We guess that Volkswagen might be concerned about fast-charging high-voltage battery systems (up to 800-1,000 volts). The NACS charging connector is promised to handle such voltage and power output of up to one megawatt, but currently, Tesla deployed only 500 V Superchargers.
It means that models with higher voltage batteries will not be able to fully utilize its fast charging capabilities at Superchargers today. Therefore, some OEMs are reluctant to make the switch until there will be NACS-compatible, high-voltage chargers deployed in reasonable numbers.
This is probably the main issue for Lucid and Hyundai Motor Group. Volkswagen Group’s Audi and Porsche also offer some models with high-voltage battery systems.
We strongly believe that once EV manufacturers will see a clear path of reaching 1,000 V at NACS chargers (Superchargers and third-party stations), they will also decide to switch. The key is to launch this type of charger within two years, so the transition could begin in 2025, without further delays and uncertainty.
We can’t exclude that there are also other things that require discussion between the manufacturers.
