Volvo Car & Polestar sign a deal for Tesla’s Supercharger network access and adopt the NACS port.
Part of Elon Musk’s strategy for Tesla was to create the largest electric vehicle charging network in North America. He knew that if Tesla started the EV revolution, other brands would soon get on board and need to ask him for access. Well, about a decade later and that’s exactly what’s happening. Volvo Car and Polestar have both signed an agreement with Tesla for Supercharger network access across the US and Canada.
The deal will give current Volvo and Polestar customers in North America access to the Tesla Supercharger network which is currently the largest in the region. The Supercharger network currently has 12,000 charging points across the US and Canada and there are plans to keep it growing.
An important byproduct of this deal is that Volvo Cars and Polestar will swap out their CCS (Combined Charging System) ports for Tesla’s NACS (North America Charging Standard) port for this region. This change will occur in 2025. For a time, both companies will supply customers with an adapter, should they choose to charge via a CCS port.
“This is a great win for our North American customers! 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. With 12,000 charging points today, a number that will only keep growing, this move will greatly increase the rate of EV adoption in a key automotive region,” says Thomas Ingenlath, CEO.
“As part of our journey to becoming fully electric by 2030, we want to make life with an electric car as easy as possible,” said Jim Rowan, CEO at Volvo Cars. “One major inhibitor to more people making the shift to electric driving – a key step in making transportation more sustainable – is access to easy and convenient charging infrastructure. Today, with this agreement, we’re taking a major step to remove this threshold for Volvo drivers in the United States, Canada and Mexico.”
The biggest loser in this deal may be Volkswagen’s Electrify America charging network. According to EVAdoption.com, Tesla currently owns 58% of EV chargers in the region while Electrify America is the second largest network with 14.4%. As time goes by, we’re seeing a shift in the North American market that looks to be led by Tesla and their NACS port. Just in May, Ford signed on for a similar deal in North America. Ford, Volvo Car and Polestar… Three dominoes have fallen. When will the rest follow?
