It has become clear that Tesla’s NACS is the gold standard in North America.
Honda and Acura will be making the switch over to the North American Charging Standard (NACS) some time in 2025 or 2026. NACS is a Tesla-developed charging standard that has been in use since 2012. This news comes directly from American Honda Motor Co. President and CEO Noriya Kaihara via InsideEVs.
Honda is just one of many car brands that have committed to NACS in recent months and it was no doubt influenced by General Motors’ decision to adopt the standard as well. This is because Honda and General Motors have co-developed electric vehicles for the North American market on GM’s Ultium platform.
Honda’s first North American EV will be the Prologue while Acura has already launched its first battery electric vehicle in the US – the second generation ZDX. Both are built on tGM’s Ultium BEV platform.
Why Are So Many Brands Switching To NACS?
This year alone, Ford, GM, Volvo, Polestar, Fisker, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan and Rivian have all confirmed a move to NACS for the North American market. This will give future electric vehicles sold by the brand access to Tesla’s vast Supercharger network. Most of these brands will be leaving behind their CCS charging ports in favour of NACS and it makes sense in North America. That’s because Tesla’s Supercharging network alone has 60% more NACS chargers than all other CCS networks combined.
It was only in November 2022 when Tesla decided to rename is proprietary charging connector as the North American Charging Standard while also opening the standard to other EV brands. It’s clear that the US government is also involved in making this change possible as it ready to foot the bill for Supercharger expansion in the US on condition that other brand’s EVs are allowed access. Having a large and highly accessible EV charging network will help boost EV adoption in the US beyond 8%.
