New Polestar vehicles marketed in North America will use the Tesla-designed North American Charging Standard, sometimes known as the NACS plug, beginning in 2025. Starting in mid-2024, owners of existing Polestars will be able to charge at Tesla’s Supercharger stations with an adaptor.
Polestar’s acquisition follows a similar one announced by corporate brother Volvo Cars on Tuesday. In recent weeks, Rivian, Ford Motor, and General Motors have all announced similar arrangements with Tesla.
Thomas Ingenlath, CEO and chief design officer of Volvo, said, “We salute the pioneering work Tesla has done to speed up the adoption and increase the popularity of electric vehicles, and it’s great to see the Supercharger network being made available in this way.”
“This move will greatly increase the rate of EV adoption in a key automotive region,” he added.
The majority of non-Tesla EVs and charging stations in North America use a plug configuration known as CCS, which stands for Combined Charging System. Recent investigations, however, have shown that CCS charging networks are far less reliable than Tesla’s network. The CCS fast-charging plug is also substantially larger and heavier than the NACS plug, making it harder for certain older or disabled drivers to use.
Tesla EVs can use CCS chargers with an adapter, but Tesla chargers are currently exclusively available to Tesla EVs.
However, until November, Tesla’s plug design was patented, when the firm published technical information about its system and made it available to other automakers and makers of EV chargers.
Earlier this week, SAE International, an engineering organisation that produces automotive standards, stated that it is in the process of developing public standards for Tesla’s NACS charging connector.
- Published By Team Genuine Reporter