How Tesla won the US charging race
Tesla will soon be serving up voltage to more non-Tesla drivers. And, thanks to recent deals with other automakers, the shape of its charging connector is likely about to dominate the US EV market.
This week, GM and Tesla announced a deal that will allow GM EVs to get juiced up by 12,000 fast chargers in Tesla's sprawling network of charging stations. The partnership follows a similar agreement reached with Ford last month, making Tesla look like it's in charge of charging.
Its charger network is vast, boasting 20,000 fast chargers in 1,800 spots nationwide, but it wasn't always a sure thing that Tesla would become the charging standard-bearer.
The company took a major gamble when it decided to make its charging system incompatible with other EVs that use the biggest competing standard, the Combined Charging System (CCS).
But now analysts say other automakers will likely follow in GM's and Ford's footsteps and design EVs using Tesla's North American Charging Standard (NACS).
Tesla's standard is set to become the industry standard since the deals mean the top three EV producers (which currently account for ~70% of US EV sales) all use it.
Tesla won't be charging free of charge: The GM and Ford partnerships will help it rake in an additional $5.4 billion in annual revenue by 2032, Piper Sandler estimates. And in more good news for the EV giant, the White House said yesterday that Tesla can receive government subsidies to build more charging stations if they include CCS adapters so other EVs can use them, too.