On Friday, the White House indicated that charging stations for electric vehicles that utilize Tesla standard connections would be eligible for billions of dollars in federal subsidies so long as they also contained the U.S. charging standard connector, CCS.
This declaration comes after rival American manufacturers Ford Motor and General Motors both said they will embrace Tesla’s charging standard for the North American market. With federal incentives, the charging sector had been trending toward the competing CCS connection before these actions.
For the first time, the Biden administration has mentioned Tesla in relation to its plans to invest up to $7.5 billion to install new, high-speed chargers along some 7,500 miles of the nation’s busiest roadways.
Stock of Tesla Inc. increased by 4.1%. The announcement from Ford and GM was hailed by analysts as a major victory that has the potential to make Tesla Superchargers the norm in the United States.
Both General Motors and Ford saw their share prices end the day higher.
However, the cooperation between the three automakers led investors to question the future of EV charging companies like ChargePoint, EVgo, and Blink Charging, causing their stock prices to drop by 11 percent to 13 percent. After waiting for hours, they finally collapsed.
On Friday, a few of them committed to making changes to meet the Tesla criteria.
White House spokesman Robyn Patterson told Reuters, “We required interoperability to promote competition, and we developed minimum standards to ensure publicly funded EV charging is accessible, reliable, and affordable for all drivers.” As long as drivers know they can depend on at least CCS, “those standards give flexibility for adding both CCS and NACS.”
Patterson has stated that all publicly financed chargers should be accessible to all vehicles. The expansion of high-quality charging infrastructure, such as Tesla Superchargers, is a positive development.
The statement did not specify whether or not Tesla’s provision of a CCS adaptor for use with charging connections at non-Tesla chargers was sufficient.
When Tesla said earlier this year that it would make its charging network available to rivals, the administration applauded the move but did not elaborate on how Tesla would be participating in its charging efforts.
Volkswagen, Hyundai Motor, and Kia are just some of the major international manufacturers that use the CCS network in the United States.
According to Oleg Logvinov, CEO of EV charging components provider IoTecha, a conflict between rival standards would increase costs for customers and vendors.
Logvinov, head of the CCS advocacy group CharIN North America, explained that the group was supporting CCS over Tesla’s technology because it had been tried and proven for over a decade with many suppliers, while Tesla’s technology was still in its infancy.
SHIFT IN THE INDUSTRY
What is the price tag on the market’s underutilized supply of CCS ports? What are we giving up by doing that? senior vehicles analyst with the Union of Concerned Scientists Sam Houston made this statement.
When it comes to rapid charging infrastructure, Tesla has the greatest network in the United States.
As a result of the collaboration between the three largest U.S. manufacturers, more than 60% of the EV market in the country may now NACS.
AJ Bell’s head of financial analysis, Danni Hewson, has speculated that politicians will determine whether or not alternative charge point systems vanish as Betamax video tapes did in the 1980s. However, “Tesla is currently miles ahead of the competition, and the gap is widening.”
According to a Blink representative, the business is excited for “the opportunity to work with Tesla on interoperability with cables and connections.”
Chief Commercial Officer Jonathan Levy has assured customers that EVgo would “serve all EV drivers regardless of what fast charging connector they use,” and the business is collaborating with NACS vendors to do so.
E-mobility from ABB A major North American manufacturer of electric vehicle (EV) chargers that sells to operators, fleets, and retailers has announced that it would include a NACS connection option for their devices.
We have been cooperating with Tesla on this. Asaf Nagler, a top official at the ABB Group subsidiary, praised the company’s performance.
The ChargePoint team did not respond to requests for comment.
Rivian and Lucid, two smaller EV manufacturers, did not immediately reply to calls for comment. Just over 1% loss at the market close.
In order to make its Superchargers accessible to drivers of vehicles other than its own, Tesla has been experimenting with CCS connections.
Last week, the Biden administration updated its guidelines to say people will receive federal subsidies to buy proprietary adapters if they are compatible with a permanently attached CCS connector, potentially making Tesla’s adapters eligible for the grant.
