The Current Landscape of Electric Vehicle Charging Standards in North America
The landscape of electric vehicle charging in North America is evolving similarly to the smartphone charging wars, but with much more costly hardware. Currently, the Combined Charging System (CCS, Type 1) plug, akin to USB-C for Android phones, is used by a greater variety of cars. In contrast, Tesla’s plug has often been compared to Apple’s Lightning connector.
According to the Verge, and it’s working: the new NACS port is being standardized by SAE International, and today, largely every automaker, including Ford, GM, Toyota, Rivian, Volvo, Polestar, Nissan, Mercedes-Benz, Jaguar Land Rover, Fisker, Hyundai, Stellantis, Volkswagen, and BMW, has signed on. New cars equipped with NACS are on the way but likely won’t start rolling out until 2026.
Meanwhile, Europe already dealt with its standards issue by settling on CCS2. For now, EV drivers in their Tesla Model Ys, Kia EV6s, and Nissan Leafs (with the ailing CHAdeMO connector) in the US are still stuck looking for the right station or adapter and hoping everything’s operational — but things should get easier soon.
