What is NACS & what does it mean for fast charging?

By Tritium

In June 2023, Ford and GM announced they’d be switching from the Combined Charging System (CCS) to Tesla’s North American Charging Standard (NACS) connectors for their future EVs. Less than a month later Mercedes-Benz, Polestar, Rivian, and Volvo also announced they’d support the NACS standard for their US vehicles in the coming years. The switch to NACS from CCS seems to have complicated the electric vehicle (EV) charging landscape, but it’s a great opportunity for charger manufacturers and charge point operators (CPOs). With NACS, CPOs will be able to charge more than 1.3 million Tesla EVs on the road in the US.

What is NACS? NACS is Tesla’s previously proprietary direct current (DC) fast charging connector standard—formerly known simply as the “Tesla charging connector.” It has been used with Tesla cars since 2012 and the connector design became available …